Women’s Electoral Participation in 2009

Afghanistan votes today in historic presidential and provincial council elections. The Secretary-General of the United Nations has encouraged all Afghans to vote in the name of the “peace and prosperity of their nation.” For the second time since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the people of Afghanistan have the chance to choose who will be their president for the next five years.

Women’s electoral participation has varied widely since the first polls in 2004, dependent largely on the security situation. During the comparatively peaceful parliamentary and provincial council elections of 2009, approximately 44 percent of newly registered voters were women. 

Out of 2,835 registered parliamentary candidates, 344 were women and out of 3,201 provincial council candidates, 285 were women.

“In 2009, the situation was much better than now. There was more government control in the provinces, more security, women were safer and there was no tension between the Parliament and [President] Karzai.”

While there was a 20 percent increase in the number of female provincial council candidates in the August 2009 presidential and provincial council elections, voter turnout among women was reportedly low at 38 percent compared to 44 percent in the previous elections.

 Voters were deterred by insecurity and threats by the Taliban to kill voters or cut off their noses and ears. 

The election was also characterized by allegations of widespread fraud and ballot stuffing. Thousands of female votes were misused through fraudulent proxy voting, with female registration grossly inflated in some provinces. Meanwhile female-only polling stations were understaffed, deterring women from voting.

At the start of the campaigning on 16 June 2009 there were forty one presidential candidates and more than 3,000 provincial hopefuls competing for 420 council seats (including 124 reserved for women).

On 20 August 2009 around 28,000 polling stations will open at 7 am and will remain open until 4 pm, with the possibility of staying open even longer until the last voters cast their decisions.