The scheduling of a Nov. 7 presidential election runoff in Afghanistan leaves authorities little time to make improvements in the election process, but there are a number of steps that can be taken to avoid the major problems of the Aug. 20 polls, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) said today.
The Institute also noted that the runoff could be an important step in ensuring that the government that results from this process will be considered legitimate by the Afghan people. Despite widespread fraud that occurred in the August balloting, the complaints investigation process carried out by the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) ultimately helped protect the will of Afghanistan’s voters, NDI said.
NDI, which conducted an international election observation mission in the country for the Aug. 20 presidential and provincial council elections, has continued to monitor the process and will field a group of experts for the Nov. 7 runoff. The Institute issued a preliminary statement immediately following the August election, along with a subsequent statement expressing concern about the fraud complaints.
