Afghanistan is set to hold presidential and provincial council polls on August 20th 2009 and National Assembly and district elections in 2010. These elections present a formidable challenge because of the recent history of the country, the youth of the democratic institutions and the deteriorating security situation and the fractured political scene in the country, being the first ever Afghan-led elections in the country. This time the elections will be conducted under the sole stewardship of the Afghan Independent Election Commission (IEC) with the UN acting only in support.

Since 2002, the European Commission has been supporting the strengthening of Afghanistan’s governance and rule of law and its electoral processes.  The European Commission is assisting the upcoming electoral process through a contribution of €35 million to the UN’s fund for electoral support (ELECT) and an Electoral Observer Mission (EOM). This mission is one of the most challenging EOMs in view of the political context, Afghanistan's week institutions and the difficult security situation.

In the 2004-2005 elections, the Commission contributed €40.8 million for to the election cycle: voter registration (€12 million), electoral operations (€27.8 million), and media related actions (€1 million). This contribution corresponded to more than 13% of the total cost of that cycle – this, was on top of the EU Member States bilateral contributions. In addition, the Commission deployed an EOM for the Parliamentary elections, with a budget of €4 million. The EOM stationed more than 150 observers across the country on Election Day and visited more than 1,000 polling stations.

EU support to democracy and governance in Afghanistan

Commission funding for governance in Afghanistan is partly channelled through the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) used for civil servant’s salaries, government operations and maintenance expenditures and the Government’s investment and development budget. The Commission contribution to the ARTF to date is €255.95 million: €68.95 million specifically dedicated to rural development programmes, €8 million for justice, and €187 million for other areas covered by the ARTF. This contribution represents around 10.5% of the total ARTF budget and makes the Commission the 4th largest contributor after UK, US and Canada.

• Supporting the Afghan Customs department in funding the building of three of the major border posts of the country. Such programme is crucial for supporting trade development, revenue (customs duty) collection for the State and to secure the borders. (€36 million).
• Contributing to a multi-donor programme for sub-national governance and public administration reform. (€5 million).
• Supporting police remuneration and reform through its contribution to the Law and Order Trust Fund (LOTFA). With a contribution of €217.5 million, the EC is the largest contributor with the US.
• Assisting phase of institutional development of the Afghan Parliament. The Commission €2.4 million to the support and establishment of the Afghan Legislature project, representing some 20% of the total costs.

The European Commission is one of the major donors providing development assistance and humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, with a focus on rural development, governance and health. Some of these development programmes are channeled through specific actions which originate tender procedures to allocate EuropeAid funds, as well as calls for proposals Between 2002 and 30 June 2009 the Commission’s support to Afghanistan amounted to €1.65 billion including €282 million in humanitarian assistance. By end June 2009 the EC had disbursed €1.398 billion, i.e. a successful disbursement rate of 84.7%.

The EC's aid for Afghanistan and the focal areas are aligned with the Afghan Government's priorities as set out in the Afghan National Development Strategy of April 2008. The Strategy builds on the Afghanistan Compact, adopted at the London Conference in 2006 by the EC, other donors and the Afghan Government. The total EC budget for bilateral development cooperation for 2007-2010 is €700 million.