Background Briefing

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Background: The Election Process

On September 18, Afghan voters will be casting two votes: one for a candidate to represent their province in the Wolesi Jirga (lower house of the national assembly) and one for a candidate to represent them in their local provincial council.5  The Wolesi Jirga is set to have 249 seats, of which 25 percent (68 seats) are reserved for women.  Each of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces will elect a constituency to the Wolesi Jirga based on the province’s population, and an additional 10 seats will be reserved for the nomadic Kuchi population.6

Each voter will cast one vote for the Wolesi Jirga, for a single candidate to represent their province.  Men and women can vote for either a male or female candidate.  Each single province has a set of open seats—which can go to men or women—as well as a set of seats reserved for women.  The top vote-winners in each province will be elected to the open seats; the next top women vote-winners will be elected to the seats reserved for women.  For example, for the 8 Wolesi Jirga seats for Helmand province—of which 2 are reserved for women—the first 6 seats will go to the top 6 vote-winners (men or women) and the remaining 2 seats will go to the next top 2 women vote-winners.7  The process is similar for the provincial councils.  The provincial councils will have between 9 and 29 members, depending on each province’s population, and roughly 25 percent of the seats will be reserved for women.8 

Subsequent to the election, each provincial council will elect one of its members to the Meshrano Jirga (house of elders, or upper house of the national assembly).  Another 17 representatives to the Meshrano Jirga will be appointed by the president, for a total of 51.


[5] For more information on the election process, see Joint Electoral Management Body Secretariat, “Background Briefing: Wolesi Jirga and Provincial Council Elections 2005,” available at: http://www.jemb.org/eng/electoral_system/jembs_background_briefing.pdf.  See generally, JEMBS fact sheets, available at http://www.jemb.org/eng/bg&factsheets.html.

[6] To provide some examples: the province with the largest population, Kabul, will elect 33 seats; Herat will elect 17; Kandahar will elect 11; Khost will elect 5; Panjshir will elect 2.  For each district (and with the 10 Kuchi representatives) about 25 percent of the seats will be reserved for women.  For instance, with the 33 Kabul seats, 24 seats will be “open” for men and women, and 9 will be reserved for women alone; with the 11 Kandahar seats, 8 seats will be open and 3 for women alone.

[7] For more information on seat distribution, see Joint Electoral Management Body Secretariat, “Fact Sheet: Seat Distribution for Wolesi Jirga and Provincial Councils,” available at: http://www.jemb.org/eng/electoral_system/seat_distribution_fa.pdf.

[8] In practice, although candidates for both the Wolesi Jirga and provincial councils are intended to be representatives for their entire province, many candidates (but not all) appear to be focusing their campaigns on specific districts within their home province, or on the single district in which they live.  Many candidates thus describe themselves as candidates for a particular district, through officially they can seek votes anywhere in their province.


<<previous  |  index  |  next>>August 2005