According to the Constitution law adopted in 2004, the Afghan National Assembly is the highest national legislature of Afghanistan and consists of the People's House also known as the House of Commons and the Senate also known as the upper house, holding 250 and 102 seats respectively.
This month's election was the third parliamentary election after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. More than 2,500 candidates are competing for 249 seats in the People's Court.
It was an election that was supposed to happen three years ago, delayed time and again by widening political schisms, insufficient funds, and worsening security.
Finally, the voting was held over the weekend. Polling which scheduled only for Saturday was extended till Sunday amidst technical snags and threat from the Taliban.
An article published on October 18 in The Afghanistan Times called the polling "vital" for Afghanistan.
Millions of voters braved Taliban attacks and organizational chaos to cast their ballots.
There are three main issues that drove the voters to the polling stations which include, fighting poverty, corruption and accountability from all sides.
Marred by attacks and violence, the election is being seen as a new ray of hope by many in Afghanistan.
People are looking for the change of guard and parliamentary reforms. Voters hope that the corrupt politicians will be replaced by the new generation of more educated politicians.
Speaking about the issue of trepidation in the country, Omar Samad, former Afghan Ambassador to France and Canada said that coming out to vote was a risk-taking decision. But Afghan people decided to go and vote. People are trying to send a message both to the Afghan politicians, the international community as well as to those who wanted to disrupt the election process. This trepidation seems to have created a sense of unity.
Afghanistan currently implements a multi-party parliamentary election system. However, it is constrained by various factors such as historical development, national conditions, political ecology, and external influences. Compared with other countries in South Asia, the political development of the Afghan parliament is slow.
Nafay Choudhury, a resident research fellow at the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies, described the election as disillusionment.
Based on his field research and interviews with a thousand voters, even though people can be brave enough to go out there and cast their votes, their votes might end up disappearing and the results may have very little accountability on constituents.
Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution also stated that the Afghan constitution makes the president much more powerful than political parties.
"It's not just the constitution's literal stipulations, but also the way that's been interpreted," said Michael.
Kamran Bokhari, a specialist in the geopolitics of the Middle East and South Asia at the University of Ottawa, added that there are no "real" issues being debated because of the constitutional and structural problem. The importance of election is not that we have democracy tomorrow, but because we need a party to govern the country efficiently. If there is not a ruling party, there's the danger that the Taliban may able to dominate the political system.
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