The important role of both domestic and international election observers is recognized by the electoral laws of Afghanistan. International observers such as the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) have been observing the Afghanistan elections since the first elections held in 2004 after the fall of the Taliban regime.
IEC defines election observers as representatives of domestic and international organizations. They have to be registered and accredited by the IEC in order to observe the electoral process. Domestic observers should be a duly registered organization before applying for accreditation with the IEC. International organizations on the other hand can directly register and get accredited with the IEC. Each and every individual observer should have accreditation as well.
Observers in Afghanistan can monitor the process and submit a final report whether the elections were held in accordance to existing laws and international standards.
One of the leading national election monitoring in Afghanistan is Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA). “FEFA is a national, independent, and impartial institution working through partnership, citizen participation, good governance, and professional programs to enhance transparency and accountability in the democratic process.” FEFA has been implementing electoral reform initiatives since 2005 and had been deploying domestic election monitors since then. FEFA also sits as a member organization of ANFREL.
Another monitoring group, the Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan (TEFA) is an election observation group established in 2009 by a group of 25 civil society organizations. TEFA’s presence helped in boosting the presence of electoral monitoring activities by local organizations which were a major challenge for the country during the previous elections. TEFA trained monitors and have undertaken capacity building trainings and first deployed observers during the 2010 parliamentary elections.
Resources :
Link : Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan (FEFA) official website – Afghanistan’s national domestic monitoring organization, established since 2005. Its works involves electoral reform, election monitoring, public outreach, and parliamentary monitoring.
PDF : FAQ: Election Observers and Agents
PDF : 2014 Elections Observation Report (FEFA : 2014)
PDF : 2014 Election Observation Report- Observation Checklists (FEFA : 2014)
PDF : U.S. Election Observation Mission to the Afghanistan Presidential and Provincial Council Elections 2009 (Democracy International: revised and updated in 2010)
PDF : Afghanistan Parliamentary Election Observation Mission 2010 (FEFA: 2010)
PDF : Presidential and Provincial Council Elections Observation Report (IRI: 2009)
PDF : 2009 Presidential and Provincial Council Elections Final Observation Report (FEFA: 2009)
PDF : Observation Report of the Presidential and Provincial Council Candidate Registration Process: An Observation Report May 2009 (FEFA: 2009)
PDF : Observation delegation report: parliamentary elections (European Parliament: 2005)
PDF : Pre-Election Statement, Parliamentary and Provincial Council Elections (NDI: 2005)
PDF : Preliminary Report Parliamentary Elections (PESG: 2005)
PDF : Briefing Paper: Afghan Elections: The Great Gamble (AREU: 2003)