Presidential Elections in Afghanistan

This will be the third presidential election since the fall of the Taliban. It should pave the way for the country's first-ever peaceful democratic transfer of power, seeing as the constitution bars the incumbent, Hamid Karzai, from standing again. The election will hold two rounds, similar to the French system. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in the first round, a second round must be held pitting the top two candidates against each other.

During the registration process, influential lawmaker and women's rights campaigner, Fawzia Koofi, had announced her intention to run, but at age 38 she did not meet the minimum age criteria.

Khadija Ghaznawi was then the only woman running for president in Afghanistan’s upcoming national elections — that is, until she was disqualified in October. Ghaznawi was one of 17 candidates culled from an initial list of 27 who had registered for Afghanistan's April elections when Hamid Karzai is due to step down.

Mrs Ghaznavi, who owns a logistics company and runs a peace campaign group, said she had met all the conditions to run, paying her deposit and handing over sufficient voter cards to prove she had support for a campaign. However, officials declined to explain which conditions the candidates had failed to meet.

For more information on women in Afghanistan and the upcoming elections:

Familiar Faces and Warlords Set To Dominate Afghan Election Campaign

Presidential Candidates Begin Campaigns for Afghanistan’s April Election

Challenges to Securing Afghan Women’s Gains in a Post-2014 Environment

Only Woman Running for Afghan President Gets Disqualified

A crusading Afghan woman

For more information on women's political participation in Afghanistan we invite you to visit our library