L’action que mène la CNDH en matière de formation des délégués des partis politiques et de promotion du dialogue entre partis et préfets devrait être soutenue. Elle pourrait être élargie aux observateurs nationaux.

La durée de la campagne électorale devrait être allongée d’une à deux semaines supplémentaires.

Il importe d’établir un mode de contribution publique au financement des campagnes électorales qui soit réaliste et adapté. Il pourrait être basé, par exemple, sur un remboursement partiel des frais de campagne sur base des résultats obtenus. L’instauration d’un mode de financement public des campagnes électorales ouvre également la possibilité de sanctionner effectivement les dépassements de plafonds éventuels.

Il est nécessaire d'amorcer une réflexion sur la mise en place un système de contribution publique au financement de l’activité des partis politiques sur base du nombre de suffrages obtenus.

Il importe de favoriser l’établissement d’une plate-forme/forum des organisations de la société civile engagées dans l’observation électorale. Cette plate-forme permettrait de renforcer les capacités locales en matière d’observation, ainsi que la promotion des réformes et la surveillance des préparatifs électoraux.

Sur les médias privés observés, la publicité commerciale à des fins de propagande électorale a été très peu utilisée. Il serait utile pour les prochaines échéances électorales de mettre en place des modalités de soutien à la publicité politique. Celle-ci peut être un moyen de compenser la faiblesse économique des médias audiovisuels privés. Cette publicité politique devra clairement être marquée comme telle de façon à la distinguer sans ambiguïté des autres types de programmes.

L’article 187 du Code électoral oblige la HAAC à organiser, pendant la campagne électorale, des débats contradictoires à la radio et à la télévision auxquels tout candidat peut participer. En dépit de cette exigence claire, la HAAC n’a organisé aucun débat. La MOE recommande que cet article du Code électoral soit appliqué, afin de mieux permettre à l’électorat d'effectuer un choix informé au moment du vote.

The electoral system for provincial (and legislative) elections should be reviewed, in a new draft Electoral Law due to be published after the 2010 legislative elections, to make it compliant with Article 109 of the Constitution. Consideration should be given to the need measure to encourage the development of political parties. The choice of the Single Non-Transferable Vote system should be reconsidered accordingly. The choice of a more proportional system using lists of candidates could be considered, with a view to adopting a system ensuring proportionality and representation of minorities and geographical groups.

The 2005 Electoral Law should be revised to clarify the provisions which lack detail and led to late, inconsistent or questionable interpretations during the 2009 electoral cycle. Technical assistance should be provided to both the Parliament and the Ministry of Justice on the proposed new Electoral Law, with a focus on training Afghan jurists on electoral matters.

The most problematic regulations should be amended and completed. These should urgently include the following:
- Amendments to the Rules of Procedures of the IEC to introduce stricter decision-making procedures should be introduced to increase transparency.
- A regulation on certification of results should clearly establish the conditions in which ballot papers should be invalidated by the IEC. A regulation should also be introduced to set out tally procedures and triggers for audits.
- A regulation should impose a deadline for the IEC to declare the locations of all polling centres, to ensure timely information to voters, observers and party and candidate agents. On the basis of this regulation, the IEC should also adopt, before an established deadline, a list of all polling stations and centres.
- Particular care should be paid to the need for the IEC to correct preliminary results prior to their publication and the mandatory implementation of decisions of adjudications of the complaints on results.

Boundaries of districts should be established to enable the holding of District Council Elections. The Ministry of Interior should determine an official list of districts, ideally by reconciling data from different institutions, namely the Central Statistics Organisations (CSO), ILDF Afghanistan Geodesy and Cartography Head Office (AGCHO), Afghanistan Information Management Services (AIMS) and the Independent Directorate for Local Governance (IDLG). The Ministry of Interior should be technically supported in this process, which should involve consultation with municipalities and provincial authorities, but should be carried out at central level.

An election administration body that is neutral and independent and is perceived as such is essential to any election process. As soon as practicable, a change in the appointments system should be made so that IEC commissioners are appointed by a body other than the President.

All IEC staff, and particularly the legal department, should be offered additional legal training. In addition to technical training, capacity building measures should focus on the fundamental human rights being upheld by elections.

No further elections should be held without renewed efforts to ensure the accuracy of the existing voter register which is an essential safeguard against fraud as well as a key tool for efficient election administration. In the short-term and in view of 2010 Legislative elections, this could be partially provided by the completion of the processing of outstanding data from the 2009 Voter Register Update to eliminate incorrect and multiple entries. For the sake of inclusivity, an additional update should be conducted to register citizens who will reach the age of majority between the last update and the next elections.

Technical assistance should be provided to the IEC and the Demobilization and Reconciliation Commission (DRC) to ensure open and effective cooperation between both bodies and enforce the vetting requirements with impartial implementation of due process and objective criteria. The DRC should be supported by the international community both financially and politically. Any submission of information from the Office of the Attorney General to the DRC on current criminal activities of applications should be considered.

The IEC should play a larger role in the process of candidate vetting, within the limits of its powers. It should establish formal links with the Demobilization and Reconciliation Commission as soon as possible so that initial candidate applications submitted to the IEC can be cross referenced with updated data from the DRC’s remapping exercise as well as other relevant information from the Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups Program. This would allow the IEC to exclude individuals with obvious links to illegal armed groups from its preliminary lists of candidates. The IEC should notify the applicants of their rejection and the reasons from their rejection, to allow them to lodge challenges before the ECC.

The ECC should be a permanent body. The key role played by the ECC in safeguarding the legitimacy of the elections should be acknowledged and it should as a matter of priority receive more comprehensive support for the 2010 elections, where the risk of fraud will be at least as great.

All necessary support should be given to ensure completion of current and pending fraud investigations, especially those which involve IEC staff members. The findings of ongoing investigations should be formally transmitted to the ECC to allow it to take action against IEC staff found to have acted fraudulently.

The newly-created public service broadcaster Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) should develop a neutral, objective and informative editorial line in all its programmes, particularly during election campaigns. RTA reporting should be balanced and factual, including coverage of authorities’ activities during an election period without any privileged treatment. Private broadcast media should adhere to requirements for impartial and fair campaign coverage giving impartial and balanced coverage in news and political discussion programmes to all parties and candidates.

In order to increase awareness of its work, the EMC should have greater visibility. This could be achieved by setting up a dedicated website and a press office to issue regular press releases and statements.

The IEC Gender Unit should streamline its strategic plan to focus primarily on ensuring the participation of women as voters and women as electoral administration staff, not least as polling station staff. The recruitment of women polling station staff members and searchers should begin much earlier in the electoral process and should from the outset work in coordination with women’s organisations which have networks throughoutn the country.

The minimum quota of women’s representation in provincial councils should be maintained or increased. The precise number of seats in Parliament, Provincial and District Councils which are reserved to women under the legal provision for a minimum 25 per cent representation by women should be published and disseminated.

Renewed commitment should be given to the implementation of the National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA) to ensure that Afghan women have equal access to education and income so that they may avail of their civil and political rights.

Civic education programmes should be established on an ongoing basis and all civic education programmes should emphasise women’s right to participate. The early establishment of civic education for women should be prioritised and should seek the expertise of organisations with experience in general civic education, rather than dedicated voter information. These organisations could advise and participate in devising programmes for both men and women which take into account high illiteracy levels and other challenges. An evaluation of the efficacy of existing civic education programmes should also take place.

Detailed and binding procedures for the detection and mitigation of fraud should be made available at the beginning of the electoral process so that electoral staff, voters, EU Election Observation Mission to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Page 53 Final Report on the Presidential and Provincial Council Elections, 20 August 2009 observers and agents, are familiar with them and can cooperate in their implementation. Existing fraud detection and mitigation measures should be fully implemented and the IEC should publicise the rules and triggers that would draw attention to suspicious results and would allow for the separation of problematic ballot boxes for further scrutiny. Secrecy surrounding the rules and triggers which the IEC imposed on itself but eventually abandoned contributed considerably to the confusion over suspicious ballot boxes and what appropriate actions should have been taken.