Priority 5. Help advance Afghanistan’s capacity for democratic governance by contributing to effective, accountable public institutions and electoral processes.

A just and reliable rule of law in Afghanistan will draw its strength from stronger practices of democratic governance—lawmaking that is open and representative, administration that is productive and accountable, and elections that citizens accept as credible and legitimate.

Canadian Objective for 2011: By 2011, we expect that national, provincial and local institutions, particularly in Kandahar province, will exhibit an increasing capacity for democratic governance in the deliberation and delivery of public programs and services, and in carrying out democratic elections.

Afghans undertook a demanding democratic exercise during the quarter by completing an updated voter registry for presidential and provincial council elections to be held on August 20 this year. This is only the second cycle of Afghan elections since the fall of the Taliban regime in2001, and it is the first time the process is being led by Afghans themselves, with international support from partners including Canada. Preliminary data from Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission show that more than 4.4 million Afghans (38 percent of them women) have been added to the registry. This total includes more than 300,000 in Kandahar. If confirmed, these figures would greatly surpass Canada’s benchmark target of adding at least twomillion voters to the 12.6 million already on the national registry from the 2005 elections. (Some overlap might have occurred due to double-counting voters already registered, and there have been allegations of fraud and other irregularities in registrations.) The ANSF in Kandahar, supported by the Canadian Forces, played a leading security role throughout the registration process, showing a capacity they could not have displayed a year ago.

Canada has committed up to $35 million to support the conduct of Afghan elections through to 2011, including parliamentary and district council elections scheduled for 2010. Most of the Canadian support will be channelled through the United Nations Development Programme, which is coordinating international electoral assistance in Afghanistan. In addition, Canadian civilians and soldiers have been active in Kandahar promoting electoral participation and mentoring the ANSF to maintain voter safety and polling-station security.

Among other governance contributions, Canada has added four new advisors to the Canadian Governance Support Office in Kabul, bringing the total current complement to seven. These advisors are working in Afghan government departments and agencies in fields such as policing services, human rights law, elections operations, education, engineering and financial management. In Kandahar, Canadian support for subnational governance included management training for district governors.