KABUL (SW) – The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has hinted the voter registration drive might well be extended.
Syed Hafeezullah Hashimi, spokesman and secretary for the IEC, told Salam Watandar there is a consensus at the electoral commission on this matter, but the final decision is yet to be made. He, however, clarified the voter registration drive would not be extended under normal circumstances.
He added the IEC has kept the security personnel, medical staff and prisoners in mind, and the process of registration might be extended for them.
The statistics shared on the IEC website suggest up to 8.6 million eligible voters have registered for the forthcoming district and parliamentary elections so far.
Commenting on this, Yosuf Rasheed, chief executive for the Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan (FEFA), noted insecurity and late recruitment process by the IEC have caused delays in the registration process. He asserted the IEC must provide equal opportunities to all citizens eligible to vote. He, however, questioned the statistics provided by the IEC in this regard.
The FEFA chief executive stressed the staff recruited by the IEC for this process is not enough to execute the task. He went on to claim these statistics are gathered by the IEC via telephone and email, and are hence not reliable.
ENDS
