Monitoring Desk
KABUL: Japan has announced new assistance to promote the United Nations Electoral Support Project to assist the upcoming electoral cycles in Afghanistan, including the parliamentary and district council elections announced for 2018.
“The project approximately worth 13.1 million USD, will help building capacity of Afghan electoral institutions to implement elections in line with the national electoral legal framework and Afghanistan’s international commitments, Japanese embassy in Kabul said in a press release Wednesday.
In this connection, an agreement was signed by Mitsuji SUZUKA, ambassador of Japan and Mr. Napoleon NAVARRO, UNDP Senior Deputy Country Director and Officer in charge at Embassy of Japan in Kabul, it said.
The ceremony was attended by Khalid Payenda, Deputy Minister Finance, Mr. Tadamichi YAMAMOTO – Special Representative of Secretary General and Head of UNAMA, Dr. Abdul Badie SAYAD – Independent Election Commission (IEC) Chairman and Mr. Abdul Aziz ARIAEY –Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) Chairman.
The UN Electoral Support Project (UNESP) is the international community’s programming vehicle to partially finance and support the elections as requested by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GoIRA).
Mr. Tadamichi Yamamoto, Special Representative of the Secretary-General, thanked Japan for its commitment and continuous support to the Afghan electoral process and emphasised, that “elections are an essential element of democratic governance around the world.”
Reaffirming UN’s commitment to support credible, transparent and inclusive elections in Afghanistan, Mr. Yamamoto noted that “elections are not only important for the continued democratization of Afghanistan, but also for maintaining its constitutional integrity and consolidating its political institutions.”
Mitsuji Suzuka, Ambassador of Japan, remarked, “Elections is one of the principal assets of democracy to reflect the views of nation and governmental affairs and is therefore documented in constitution. Carrying out free, transparent and fair elections is also enunciated in the first article of SMAF. Successful elections not merely require the support of relevant governmental bodies such as IEC and ECC but also consider the constructive cooperation of all political leaders, political parties and the nation. The people of Afghanistan will announce their firm determination of the national unity to the world by conducting electoral process and selecting the representatives of the nation”.
Japan has been assisting Afghanistan’s nation-building efforts in various fields including political process, security, infrastructure, agriculture, rural development, human capacity development, education, health, culture and humanitarian assistance. The cumulative Japanese assistance to Afghanistan since 2001 amounts to $6.57 billion.
