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Priority 5. Help advance Afghanistan’s capacity for democratic governance by contributing to effective, accountable public institutions and electoral processes.
By the end of 2011, Canada expects that national, provincial and local institutions, particularly in Kandahar province, should be able to exhibit an increasing capacity for democratic governance in the deliberation and delivery of public programs and services and in carrying out democratic elections.
Personnel from the Department of Foreign Affairs
and International Trade assess the reconstruction
progress on the Kandahar Provincial Council Hall,
a governance infrastructure development project
managed by the Kandahar Provincial
Reconstruction Team.
The certified results of the September 18 election of Afghanistan’s lower house of parliament were released on December 1. The Afghan Independent Election Commission and the Electoral Complaints Commission uncovered significant electoral irregularities: of 5.6 million votes cast, about 1.3 million were invalidated; 3,345 polling stations were recounted; and results from 2,543 polling stations were disqualified. Nonetheless, as a demonstration of its increased capacity to manage democratic elections, the IEC followed procedures in accordance with recognized international methods for ballot counting, auditing and certification.
Losing candidates challenged the announcement of the final results, while Afghanistan’s Attorney General called on the Supreme Court to nullify the vote because of fraud. On December 26, the President issued a decree establishing the Special Electoral Tribunal under the auspices of the Supreme Court. The Tribunal will re-examine complaints related to the electoral process and present its findings once investigations are concluded. By the end of this quarter, the legal dispute remained unresolved.
Democratic elections are bringing a greater range of representation to politics in Afghanistan. Canada provided electoral support materials and funded training for 248 women from 31 provinces running for office—representing 62 percent of all women candidates. Project partners also reached thousands of women voters, teaching them about their democratic rights using radio broadcasts, theatre productions and face-to-face interaction. The September 18 elections had a record 406 female candidates running for office, up from 347 in the 2005 elections. Out of the 249 seats available, 69 female candidates were elected.
The governments of Afghanistan and Canada agree that corruption is a major impediment to improved governance in Afghanistan. The Government of Afghanistan must move more aggressively to address this challenge in order to build relationships of trust between the Afghan people and their government.
Canada continued to assist the Government of Afghanistan to establish effective anti-corruption measures, strengthen institutional accountability and promote the rule of law. This is reinforced through the mentoring of Afghan justice officials and the Afghan National Security Forces. Canada also provides support to a UN Development Programme project that works in partnership with the High Office of Oversight and the Ministry of Education to build awareness among officials about corruption and develop a complaints and integrity promotions system within the Ministry.
In addition to supporting anti-corruption measures at the national level, Canada supports efforts to empower communities to implement anti-corruption practices. These practices help ensure that Canada’s aid investments reach those that need them.
In the north of Afghanistan, Canada’s partners are working with Community Development Councils, described under Priority 2, to undertake social audits. These social audits are held in a public forum and are open to the scrutiny of community members so that there is greater oversight and accountability of their development projects. Thus far, CDCs have carried out over 530 social audits. Furthermore, over 620 “maturity assessments” of CDCs have been conducted, of which 87 percent have achieved an “A” rating in transparency and accountability.
Canada continued to work with the provincial and local governments of Kandahar on measures designed to strengthen governance, including the provision of qualified Afghan advisors, equipment and training to the Office of the Governor of Kandahar; support for building the capacity of the Kandahar City Mayor’s Office in responding to core needs such as land title registration and dispute resolution; and technical assistance to the Provincial Development Committee.
Additionally, Canada supports the Afghanistan Sub-national Governance Program, a component of which will provide support to all 34 provinces to help develop Provincial Strategic Plans (PSPs). However, roll-out of these plans has been slowed at the national level to allow for piloting the PSP process. So far only two provinces, Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif, have undertaken PSPs and are in the final stages of approvals. PSP preparatory work has also been initiated in Kandahar province.
The real and perceived improved security at the local level, as well as efforts to improve local governance, is believed to have contributed to increased participation in shuras in Dand and Panjwayi, where Canada has been focusing its stabilization efforts. Weekly shuras this quarter in the two districts were regularly drawing 80 to 90 participants, particularly elders, from a wide region, compared to 40 representatives from a more limited geographic area during the last quarter.
National-level initiatives also supported governance in Kandahar in this quarter. Canada supported the organization of civil servant job fairs held in key districts of Kandahar. These were well attended and resulted in the hiring of 180 new civil servants for provincial and district jobs in a number of ministries. The success of this approach has prompted discussion on its use in other provinces and districts. By reinforcing the presence and building the capacity of the local government Canada is helping to generate greater acceptance of, and participation in, those institutions—and less support for the Taliban’s alternative.
Canada is also a lead donor to human rights initiatives in Afghanistan; in this quarter, Canada’s contribution to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) enabled stronger promotion and protection of women’s and minority rights. The AIHRC has trained approximately 10,000 Afghan politicians, teachers, health workers, police officers, lawyers and military personnel on their duties and responsibilities to promote and protect the human rights of their fellow citizens. Canada is also preparing to assume chairmanship of the AIHRC donor group in the next quarter.
