Elections as a Disputed Power-Sharing Mechanism in Afghanistan

Abstract

The disputed outcome of Afghanistan's 2014 presidential election ended with an American-brokered agreement to form a new national unity government and a prominent commitment by the two leading candidates to a series of electoral reforms. Those reform talks have proceeded fitfully throughout the government tenure, and there has been little progress in preparing for parliamentary elections, which are officially scheduled to take place in July 2018, nearly three years after the previous parliament's five-year tenure was to expire. With donors unenthusiastic about assuming the administrative costs of this next round of elections and the government consumed by internal security challenges and other political crises, the official timeline for parliamentary elections looks increasingly uncertain—further weakening the tenuous representational function of the incumbent legislature and raising the competitive stakes for factions eying the presidential elections scheduled to take place in 2019. This essay will assess the politics of elections in Afghanistan, both among domestic actors and as they relate to the international community's engagement with and continued support for the Afghan government.