Female candidates say they will fight for equal rights and the end of forced marriages. They will argue that all women should have the right to leave their homes without a male escort and should be free to choose whether to wear a burqa.

Preliminary results of the September 18 election are expected early this week and since a quarter of the seats have been reserved for women, many are confident that they will be elected.

Among them is Sabrina Sagheb, 25, who is typical of the new breed of female politician. Her election posters, showing her wearing lipstick and a yellow headscarf, angered conservatives but captured the hearts of young men.

Sagheb, head of the Afghan Basketball Federation, has promised to improve women’s rights if she is elected. “The gunslingers and conservatives are complaining about women getting seats in parliament but we have been mistreated and not given rights throughout the history of Afghanistan,” she said. “This needs to change.”

There is no more poignant symbol of the struggle they face than Pul-e-Chakri prison, on the outskirts of Kabul. The medieval establishment is home to 72 women, many of them charged with so-called “moral crimes”: running away from an abusive husband, having an affair or, most troubling, being the victims of rape.

Among them is Khatira Queemzada, 18, an intelligent young woman accused of deserting her violent husband. “My husband and his family were illiterate and jealous of my education,” she said. “They used to beat me so I ran away. My family didn’t help because once you marry you are no longer their responsibility.”

Under Afghan law, Queemzada would be freed if she agreed to go back to the husband who beat her. Despite pressure from her family, she prefers to stay in prison and fight her case when it comes to trial.

As she told her story last week, a woman convicted of robbery repeatedly beat her hand against her head and screamed for her family.

The women prisoners sleep 20 to a fly-infested room. The stench is overpowering and the air is muggy.

Some 86 children are incarcerated with their mothers. Dressed in rags, they have no access to education and will remain in prison until they are old enough to fend for themselves or until a relative offers to take them.

At 16, Fariba Wardak is still a child, yet in the eyes of Afghan law she is already a criminal. She is shy and when she talks to men she covers her face with her black headscarf, but it does not obscure the desperate nature of her plight.

She said her father had twice sold her into marriage and had then run off with her mother and both the dowries. Wardak found out that she had been sold only when both prospective husbands turned up to collect her.

Although it is acceptable for Afghan men to have more than two wives, it is a crime for a woman to have two husbands. Wardak has spent nine months in the jail and is due to remain there for at least another three.

In the centre of town is another jail for women. Woyalat prison is in the central police compound and here the conditions are worse. The cells are mouldy, hot in summer and freezing in winter, disease is rife and the air oppressive.

Like the conditions, the individual stories are terrible. One is about Karima, 14, whom a police commander wanted to marry. When she refused, he abducted and raped her. Her parents reported her missing; the police then arrested her as a runaway. Her fate is unknown.

By automatically allocating seats to women, Afghanistan will rank 20th in the world for female representation in parliament — a remarkable achievement in a country where only 15% of women can read.

Critics argue that Sagheb and the other new female MPs will have no impact and will be shut out by the men. Advocates of the system say it is only a start and in Afghanistan that is all anyone can hope for.

Either way, the election is an important stage in war-battered Afghanistan’s transition to democracy following the ousting of the Taliban regime by American-led forces in 2001. Final results of the poll are not expected until October 22.

European Union observers last week reported “worrying cases of fraud” that included ballot stuffing, proxy voting and possible intimidation of voters to influence their choice.

“While these phenomena do not appear to be nationwide, they are a cause for concern,” the observers said in a statement. They urged the election administration to address the issues transparently “to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process”.

A joint United Nations- Afghan electoral authority has said that it is satisfied with the conduct of the election so far.

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