| Submit your comments on this article |
| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Nearly 3,000 Afghans to compete for parliament |
| 2005-05-30 |
| KABUL - Nearly 3,000 Afghans have registered to stand in a historic Sept. 18 parliamentary election, the country's election commission said on Sunday. More than 3,000 people have signed up to stand in elections for provincial councils, to be held on the same day as the general election. "This is a very positive outcome, achieved in a short time frame and under challenging security conditions," Najla Ayubi of the Joint Electoral Management Body told a news conference, referring to the April 3-May 26 registration period. Of the approximately 2,915 people who have registered to run for the 249-seat lower house of parliament, known as the Wolesi Jirga, 347 of them are women. There are 279 women among the 3,170 nominations for provincial councils, the commission said. "The turnout of women, who make up slightly more than 10 percent of candidates, is extremely favourable," Ayubi said. The figures were preliminary and might be amended after cross-checking. Preliminary candidate lists and final nomination figures would be issued on June 4, she said. The parliamentary election and the provincial polls follow a successful October presidential election won by US-backed Hamid Karzai, when Taleban rebel threats to disrupt the vote failed to materialise. The parliamentary poll was to have taken place at the same time as the presidential vote but has been delayed several times. Technical hitches such as problems with census data and the drawing of district boundaries have been blamed for the delay, but there are also serious security worries. |
| Posted by:Steve White |