On September 18, 2010, Afghanistan held elections for the lower house of its parliament, the Wolesi Jirga. As the second Afghan-led elections since the fall of the Taliban, they were a critical test of whether Afghanistan’s ability to conduct fair elections had improved since its presidential and provincial council elections in 2009.

Through support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), building upon its ongoing engagement in the democratization process in Afghanistan, Democracy International organized and led the largest international election observation mission to the September 2010 parliamentary elections. Despite a challenging security environment, DI successfully deployed 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.

This report presents DI’s findings and provides recommendations for strengthening Afghan democracy and improving future electoral processes.