Project Description
In 2010 Democracy International conducted a comprehensive election observation project in Afghanistan to evaluate the degree to which the conduct of the country’s elections for lower house of its parliament, the Wolesi Jirga, and the broader political and legal contexts conformed to accepted international norms. Building upon its ongoing engagement in the democratization process in Afghanistan, DI organized and led the largest international election observation mission to the September 2010 parliamentary elections, deploying 80 international observers to 14 of Afghanistan’s provinces. While security conditions significantly hampered their ability to move freely on election day, most observer teams were able to witness the opening of the polls, the conduct of voting, the closing of the polls, and counting procedures. As the second Afghan-led elections since the fall of the Taliban, the elections were a critical test of whether Afghanistan’s ability to conduct fair elections had improved since its presidential and provincial council elections in 2009.