Afghanistan's election commission today announced the final list of candidates for next year's presidential and provincial council polls.
The bulk of NATO's 75,000 remaining troops are due to pull out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and a credible presidential election- rather than a repeat of the fraud-plagued vote of 2009- is seen as vital to stability.
It will be Afghanistan's first-ever democratic power transfer. President Hamid Karzai, appointed following the US-led invasion of 2001, must step down after serving two terms.
"Eleven candidates have made it to the final list for presidential election," Abdul Rahman Hotak, deputy head of the Independent Election Commission (IEC), told a news conference.
More than 2,700 candidates, including 308 women, have made the the final list for provincial council election, he said.
"We have done all our vetting honestly, and without accepting any pressure on us. We have done it independently," he said.
He said the main problems with the disqualified candidates were the voter cards of supporters the candidates needed to provide to the IEC.
Election authorities last month cut down the initial list of 26 candidates for the April 5 presidential vote to 10, but the Afghan election watchdog yesterday reinstated one disqualified candidate.
