KABUL (SW): The government has no serious will to hold elections, a number of Wolesi Jirga (lower house) members said on Saturday.
The house summoned head of the Directorate of Population Census and the deputy Chief Commissioner of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to brief the lawmakers about the state of affairs. Fatima Nazari, member of the house, said on the occasion a large number of people await to get their identity cards, and on top of that lack of enough polling stations and security threats are looming.
Mohammad Sarwar Usmani, another member of the house, said many citizens are living under areas dominated by the Taliban where they cannot move to register for the polls. Usmani, an MP from Farah, said after the threats by the Taliban, no one can dare to vote in this part of the country. He added apart from the provincial capital, rest of the 10 districts are difficult to visit for the officials.
Shahla Haq, interim-secretary of the IEC, said in regard to the concerns of the lawmakers that out of 1419 polling stations set to be activated only 127 remain closed due to security concerns. She mentioned an additional 83 closed have also been opened following the launch of registration process.
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