Afghanistan: 18 candidates found eligible for presidential elections - UN

The Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB), which works with United Nations participation, today announced the names of 18 eligible candidates for the 9 October Presidential election, seen as a major landmark on the road to bringing peace and stability to a country torn by 25 years of war and civil conflict.

Of the 23 candidates who filed their nomination papers prior to the 26 July deadline, three were rejected for failure to comply with the nomination procedures and two others later withdrew.

With voter registration set to end in a few days, more than 9 million of the estimated 9.5 to 9.8-million-strong electorate have already signed on, over 41 per cent of them women, whose rights were severely restricted by the ousted Taliban regime.

Registrations are likely to resume after the presidential election in a bid to boost voter numbers for national and local parliamentary polls scheduled for April 2005.