A/HRC/16/67 30. OHCHR/UNAMA worked with Afghan partners to promote and guarantee women’s representation in the parliamentary elections of 18 September 2010. Assurances were obtained from the Government that the 68 parliamentary seats constitutionally reserved for women (25 per cent) were a minimum and not a ceiling on female representation. In addition, the Government assured that where a female candidate won a non-reserved seat but was unable to take up elected office, the seat in question would go to the next female candidate who obtained the highest number of votes. More women contested the 2010 parliamentary election, as 16 per cent of all candidates were women, up 4 per cent from the 2005 parliamentary election. OHCHR/UNAMA documented reports of community resistance to their candidacies in addition to threats, harassment and attacks in some areas of the country. In Badakhshan province, for example, OHCHR/UNAMA received reports of religious leaders preaching against the participation of female candidates, urging people not to support females contesting the election. As the election date drew closer, OHCHR/UNAMA noted an increase in the incidents of threats and intimidation against female candidates, including the detonation of an IED outside a female candidate’s campaign offices in Taloquan city in Takhar province. On 30 August, one female parliamentary candidate’s five male campaign workers were abducted and killed in Herat province. 31. On 18 September, election day, intimidation tactics by AGEs contributed to reduce the participation of voters, especially women voters, in different parts of the country. In the south, the Taliban enforced restrictions on movement with oral threats, ad hoc road blocks and IEDs which prevented Afghans from exercising their right to vote. In the eastern region and in Wardak and Logar provinces in the central region, threats from AGEs, including the distribution of night letters, reportedly had a significant impact on voter turnout. With the exception of Bamyan, Day Kundi and Badakhshan provinces, and some cities, female voter turnout was medium to low. The International Election Commission reported that of the 4.3 million estimated ballots cast, about 1.6 million were thought to have been cast at female polling stations, representing 37 per cent of the total number of ballots cast. High security risks, the co-location of female and male polling centres, inadequate or absent female polling staff and related cultural constraints kept women away from the polls in the southern and south-eastern regions in particular. Notwithstanding these challenges, 69 women were elected to the lower house of the Afghan Parliament. IV. Impunity and transitional justice 32. Impunity remains the rule in Afghanistan, serving as a major impediment to building rule of law and respect for human rights. While the Government committed to revising the Action Plan for Peace, Reconciliation and Justice at the Kabul Conference in July, it has sent mixed messages about its commitment to ensuring accountability for serious international crimes and violations of human rights. As the gazetting of the Law on Public Amnesty and National Stability became known at the end of 2009, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) and civil society repeated calls for the Law to be revoked. 33. Questions about governmental commitment to end impunity were also raised during the initial stages of the Government’s efforts to create a sustainable peace, reintegration and reconciliation process. Civil society activists and the AIHRC repeatedly stressed the need to ensure that the process respect victims’ needs for justice as well as the imperative of consolidating gains made in the constitution and legal framework that protect human rights, particularly the rights of women. A Victim’s Jirga for Justice, held in May 2010, provided a forum for those points to be made directly to the Government in advance of the Government’s National Consultative Peace Jirga held in early June. Victims of serious 10