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Presidential elections were held in Afghanistan on October 9, 2004. Hamid Karzai won the elections with 55.4% of the vote and three times more votes than any other candidate. Twelve candidates received less than 1% of the vote. It is estimated that more than three-quarters of Afghanistan's nearly 12 million registered voters cast ballots. The elections were overseen by the Joint Electoral Management Body, chaired by Zakim Shah and vice-chaired by Ray Kennedy, an American working for the United Nations.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
After some accusations of fraud circulated on the day of the election, at least fifteen candidates declared that they were boycotting the ballot, but the boycott dissolved when the United Nations announced it would set up a three-person independent panel to investigate the charges of irregularities. The panel included a former Canadian diplomat, a Swedish electoral expert, and the third member was later named by the European Union.
The date was originally set for July 5, 2004. The elections were twice postponed, first until September, and then until October. Candidates for president also nominated two vice-presidential candidates. Some candidates used this to balance their ticket with regard to Afghanistan's three main ethnic communities. If no candidate had secured 50% of the votes, a run-off election would have been held.
- ^ Joint Electoral Management Body – Profile, J. Ray Kennedy Archived September 3, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Afghanistan on tenterhooks[permanent dead link]
- ^
Andrew North (July 24, 2004). "Afghan candidate list published". BBC News. Retrieved January 25, 2010.
Zakim Shah, the chairman of the joint electoral management body, said 23 people had met the Monday deadline to register for the October poll.
- ^ Afzal Khan (July 11, 2004). "Afghanistan Postpones Elections For All The Wrong Reasons". Vol. 1, no. 49. Eurasia Daily Monitor. Retrieved January 25, 2010.
- ^ Simon Jeffreys (August 11, 2004). "Rumsfeld visits Afghanistan for talks". The Guardian. Retrieved January 25, 2010.
- ^
"Afghan presidential poll on October 9". Daily Times (Pakistan). July 10, 2004. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved January 25, 2010.
But parliamentary polls, which were meant to have been held at the same time, will be delayed until April, Zakim Shah, the chairman of the Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB), said in an announcement on state-run Kabul TV.
- ^ "18 out of 23 candidates qualified for Afghan presidential race". Xinhua. August 10, 2004. Archived from the original on September 17, 2004. Retrieved January 25, 2010.
- ^ Adam Jay (November 3, 2004). "Karzai confirmed as Afghan president". The Guardian. Retrieved January 25, 2010.