Chairman of the Free & Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan, Nader Nadery, explains how election monitors worked during the presidential vote. There were about 10,000 FEFA election observers spread out throughout the country, despite great personal danger. After widespread fraud in the 2009 election, Mr Nadery said that FEFA took the utmost care to unsure that it does not happen again.
Our observers, who are made up largely of volunteers, follow different reporting procedures and use standardised forms we call “checklists” to monitor the elections. Observers use three checklists to record if all of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) rules and procedures are being applied properly during the opening of the polls, the voting, the closing of polls and counting the counting of votes. Each checklist and each report will contain specific information on polling centres’ code number and station code number.
There will also be other reporting, which will be mostly via phone to our operation room on election day. These reports, along with reports of critical electoral manipulation, will be compiled to make our initial observation findings 48 hours later.
Monitors will look at what time the polling station opened, making sure the centres and stations open and close on time. The observers will record delays and note the reason for the delay – if there was any.
They will also check if the ballot boxes were opened in front of the candidates and voters? Were the ballots clean? Did they have serial numbers? Were they locked properly and stamped properly?
All those procedures will be watched.
The next checklist will look at how the voting was carried out. Were there people influencing voters? Were proxies voting on behalf of women? Was there voter intimidation? Was there campaigning going on in the vicinity of the polls? Were there campaign posters or pictures of candidates around the site of the polling station? Were police entering the stations? They have to be outside. Was there any government interference? Did any body attempted to stuff boxes with fraudulent votes?
All of these are important parts of the process that could undermine or promote the transparency and credibility of the elections.
The final checklist is about the procedures for closing the polling stations and counting the votes there. What time were the stations were closed? Was there any issues about what happened? Did the count happen at the station in front of the observers?
We sent more observers to places where we expect problems or fraud from the experience of the last elections in 2009.
As an example we deployed 500 observers in Balkh province. In the eastern city of Jalabad we have more than 500. In Kunar, we have close to 200. In Nuristan we have more than 130 observers.
When you look through the entire map of the country there are districts that are secure so we don’t deploy there because there are fewer people in the district or there are less expectations for fraud.
Once the polls are closed the vote will be counted at each station, by hand.
The result is sent to Kabul for computerised tally at the IEC.
The commission says it will take up to three to five days to get five per cent of the provisional results. Then it will be five days or even a week to finalise the results.
Then there is a period of adjudication of disputes. Then the final results. But it has to happen by the end of April to leave time for a run off if it is needed.
Who are the observers? They are social workers, volunteers.
I recently called some and asked: ‘What makes you want to do this?’
They say this is an obligation that we feel we have if we want to see democracy work here. If we want to see a peaceful transition of power in Afghanistan.
If they want this to happen they have to take some level of risk to make it succeed, they say.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Company Profile
Company name: Cargoz
Date started: January 2022
Founders: Premlal Pullisserry and Lijo Antony
Based: Dubai
Number of staff: 30
Investment stage: Seed
MATCH DETAILS
Barcelona 0
Slavia Prague 0
WHAT IS THE LICENSING PROCESS FOR VARA?
Vara will cater to three categories of companies in Dubai (except the DIFC):
Category A: Minimum viable product (MVP) applicants that are currently in the process of securing an MVP licence: This is a three-stage process starting with [1] a provisional permit, graduating to [2] preparatory licence and concluding with [3] operational licence. Applicants that are already in the MVP process will be advised by Vara to either continue within the MVP framework or be transitioned to the full market product licensing process.
Category B: Existing legacy virtual asset service providers prior to February 7, 2023, which are required to come under Vara supervision. All operating service proviers in Dubai (excluding the DIFC) fall under Vara’s supervision.
Category C: New applicants seeking a Vara licence or existing applicants adding new activities. All applicants that do not fall under Category A or B can begin the application process through their current or prospective commercial licensor — the DET or Free Zone Authority — or directly through Vara in the instance that they have yet to determine the commercial operating zone in Dubai.
Company Profile
Name: HyveGeo
Started: 2023
Founders: Abdulaziz bin Redha, Dr Samsurin Welch, Eva Morales and Dr Harjit Singh
Based: Cambridge and Dubai
Number of employees: 8
Industry: Sustainability & Environment
Funding: $200,000 plus undisclosed grant
Investors: Venture capital and government
A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
How to register as a donor
1) Organ donors can register on the Hayat app, run by the Ministry of Health and Prevention
2) There are about 11,000 patients in the country in need of organ transplants
3) People must be over 21. Emiratis and residents can register.
4) The campaign uses the hashtag #donate_hope
A Long Way Home by Peter Carey
Faber & Faber
Stamp duty timeline
December 2014: Former UK chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne reforms stamp duty land tax (SDLT), replacing the slab system with a blended rate scheme, with the top rate increasing to 12 per cent from 10 per cent:
Up to £125,000 – 0%; £125,000 to £250,000 – 2%; £250,000 to £925,000 – 5%; £925,000 to £1.5m: 10%; More than £1.5m – 12%
April 2016: New 3% surcharge applied to any buy-to-let properties or additional homes purchased.
July 2020: Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveils SDLT holiday, with no tax to pay on the first £500,000, with buyers saving up to £15,000.
March 2021: Mr Sunak extends the SDLT holiday at his March 3 budget until the end of June.
April 2021: 2% SDLT surcharge added to property transactions made by overseas buyers.
June 2021: SDLT holiday on transactions up to £500,000 expires on June 30.
July 2021: Tax break on transactions between £125,000 to £250,000 starts on July 1 and runs until September 30.
