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Thursday, September 26, 2019

2019 Afghanistan's Presidential Election Saturday Sep 28,2019

People of Afghanistan will head to the polls on Saturday to pick their next president, even as the threat of violence and concerns over electoral fraud could lead many to stay home.
 INTERACTIVE: AFGHANISTAN ELECTION 2018
The vote, the fourth since the Taliban's removal from power by a United States-led coalition in 2001, comes as heavy fighting between the armed group and government forces has led to a spike in the number of civilians killed.

The Taliban has already threatened to target election rallies and polling stations, while in recent weeks the US-backed Afghan forces have stepped up air and ground attacks, raising fears of further casualties.  

Presidential Candidates

16 candidates are running in Saturday's election, seeking to secure a five-year term.

The president is both the head of state and the commander-in-chief of the Afghan armed forces. The president also appoints the cabinet, which is approved by the lower house of parliament.

The National Assembly consists of Wolesi Jirga (House of the People), the 249-seat lower house, and Meshrano Jirga (House of Elders), the 102-seat upper house.

Wolesi Jirga, the most powerful of the houses, is responsible for passing and amending legislation. Meshrano Jirga has an advisory role.

A presidential candidate must secure 50 percent of the vote to win outright. If, as expected, that threshold is not crossed, a runoff will be held between the top two contenders - most likely on November 23.

Top 6 Presidential Candidates

Afghanistan election
 
Ashraf Ghani

 The incumbent president is seeking a second term, running under the slogan of "Dawlat Saaz" or State Builder.
The ethnic Pashtun politician has picked Amrullah Saleh, a former spy chief who is ethnic Tajik, the second-largest ethnic group in the country, as one of his two running mates. The other one is Sarwar Danish, who is an ethnic Hazara and one of Afghanistan's two vice presidents.

Abdullah Abdullah

 Afghanistan's chief executive officer, a post created after the 2014 presidential election, has emerged as Ghani's strongest challenger. He campaigns motto is Stability and Integration.
Abdullah's first running mate is Enayatullah Babur Farahmand, an ethnic Uzbek and an ally of Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum. His second running mate is Asadullah Sadati, a Hazara who is backed by a faction of the Hazara-dominated Hezb-e Wahdat party.

Ahmad Wali Massoud

 The younger brother of former anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, Wali Massoud is ethnic Tajik and has served as the Afghan ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Massoud has chosen Farida Momand, a Pashtun who was a higher education minister, and Latif Nazari, a Hazara, as his running mates. 

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar

 A controversial former commander accused of war crimes, Hekmatyar registered his candidacy with Fazl ul-Hadi Wazi and Hafiz ul-Rahman Naqi - both ethnic Tajiks and members of his political party Hezb-i-Islami - as his running mates.
Nicknamed the "butcher of Kabul", Hekmatyar is believed to be responsible for the killing of thousands of civilians in Kabul during the Afghan civil war in the 1990s.
In 2016, Hekmatyar was pardoned by the Afghan government as part of a peace deal with Hezb-i-Islami. He returned to Kabul in May 2017 after spending two decades in hiding. 

Abdul Latif Pedram

 An ethnic Tajik, Pedram is a member of parliament who campaigned for women's rights and federalism.
He is the leader of the National Congress Party of Afghanistan. His running mates are Ehsanullah Haidari, a Hazara, and Mohammed Sadeq Wardak, a Pashtun.

Rahmatullah Nabil

 The two-time head of Afghanistan's spy agency, the National Directorate of Security, is a staunch opponent of the Taliban and a critic of of Ghani's administration. He is an ethnic Pashtun from Maidan Wardak. 
His running mates are Murad Ali Murad, a Hazara former deputy interior minister, and Massouda Jalal, an ethnic Tajik and former minister of women's affairs.

The other candidates are

  1.  Nur-ul-Haq Ulumi
  2. Nurullah Jalili
  3. Shaida Abdali
  4. Faramarz Tamana
  5. Mohammad Shahab Hakimi
  6.  Hakim Tursan
  7. Mohammad Ibrahim Alekozai
  8. Ghulam Faruq Nejrabi
  9. Nur Rahman Liwal, 
  10. Enayatullah Hafiz.







 

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