Jalalabad (Pajhwok): Some civil society members have expressed their different opinions, about next Presidential and Provincial Council’s Elections in connection of what to be done to make the landmark elections a success event for Afghan people, during a gathering in Jalalabad city, Nangarhar Province. [All photos by Casey Garret Johnson, December 18th, 2013] Zeerak, Legal Advisor, Nangarhar For the elections to be successful, they must happen all over the county—in all areas, especially in all the Pashtun areas. There is still a lot of voter awareness outreach that needs to be done as of late December. This needs to be done person-to-person and not necessarily by the IEC, we just need people that are able to coherently explain the benefits of the elections and that have access to rural communities. Inahatullah, Chief Editor Hotai magazine, Nangarhar We must get assurances from the international community and Pakistan to work on the peace process before the elections can take place. I never agreed with Mr Karzai before his speech [at the end of the November Loya Jirga] but now I agree with him. I think that deferring signing the BSA after the elections will lead to better conditions for the elections to take place. By not signing the BSA there will be fewer Taliban attacks on the polling sites and so more people will be able to vote and the process will be seen as legitimate. Right now everything is out of the governments hands. Assadullah, Civil Society Organization Director, Nangarhar You need independent civil society activists leading the election awareness and education outreach effort, rather than the IEC. The people believe that there is still something wrong with the system and the IEC is part of the system. Civil society has more trust from the population than any bodies directly associated with the government and so should be at the forefront of all the outreach at the province and district and village level. Shahmahmood, Journalist, Nangarhar The main problem right now is that most people in the cities have cards but the people in some of the districts never got cards because the IEC couldn’t get in due to the security situation. This worries me—if the IEC couldn’t reach some districts to deliver cards how will they be able to facilitate the elections in April? Nabiullah, Student, Nangarhar A concerted offensive to really clear out all the insurgents from this country. Muzhda, NGO program manager, Nangarhar Public awareness and more women involved in the entire process. My mother is campaigning for Zalmai Rasool. I am optimistic that the elections will take place, but the level of outreach could be much higher. People should know about candidates and their programs and their backgrounds. Atiqullah, Provincial IEC worker, Nangarhar The IEC should only be involved in the logistics and technical aspects of the elections—we shouldn’t stray into other areas. The IEC should stay away from civic education, because what these civic educators are doing right now is telling everyone in the villages who to vote for. The IEC has also no control over its district field coordinators. This is a huge problem. Right now you need to really watch the district field coordinators—these IEC officials working at the district level are the key point of corruption because they control where polling stations can and cannot go. The district field coordinators are all bought by the candidates, and then they pay out locals to vote for their candidate. [IEC Chairman] Nuristani and [Secretariat head] Amerkhel don’t have as much ability to corrupt the process as the district field coordinators and civic educators. Bakhtiar, NGO employee, Nangarhar The most important thing is the transparency of the Independent Election Commission. At the provincial level there are many avenues for corruption. Right now in Nangarhar all of the candidates are trying to link themselves to the IEC provincial staff and most campaign funds are going from the candidates to provincial IEC members. Hanzallah, Monitoring and Evaluation specialist, Nangarhar Two or three days before the elections, the IEC should shuffle all the district field coordinators to new districts to prevent fraud. Sheela, literature student, Kunar Greater female awareness about the elections, but what this means in a place like Kunar is also greater awareness for the public at large, it’s not enough to just go and explain to women the importance of voting, you need to explain this to the whole community and, most importantly, you need to educate the mullahs and then have them do public outreach. Idrees, Political Science student, Nangarhar Youth in general need more training on the political process, and right now I think the youth are actually part of the problem—they are just giving their vote away to the highest bidder. Mohammed Ismael, Student, Nangarhar I agree with the BSA because it will protect us from other countries, but I don’t think it is something that needs to be signed for the elections to be successful. What we need is a comprehensive peace before the elections. Saifullah, Student, Nangarhar We need better awareness raising, particularly more use of mullahs, and we need to make the case to our countrymen that without the elections there is no way forward. People are saying ‘go vote’ but they aren’t explaining what the vote actually does.