Presidential and Provincial Council Elections, 5 April and 14 June 2014

Following an invitation from the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan, the OSCE Permanent Council tasked ODIHR to deploy an Election Support Team to assist government and international efforts in conducting the presidential and provincial council elections and to prepare a report, including recommendations, with a view to enhancing the conduct of future elections.

A team of 15 experts drawn from 13 OSCE participating States was deployed to Kabul on 5 March. Presence was later reduced to nine experts, who continued to operate in Afghanistan until 31 July.

According to the team's final report, “the 2014 elections were widely viewed as a key political event in the history of Afghanistan, presenting an opportunity for the peaceful transfer of power in the context of the drawdown of the international security presence.” The report notes a number of improvements to the legal framework and the conduct of the electoral process, while pointing to the remaining need for further reforms, offering 35 priority short-term and 20 long-term recommendations for consideration by the Afghan authorities and other stakeholders.