KABUL (SW) – The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has hinted the third round of voter registration in districts across the country would get an extension of deadline.
Maazullah Dawlati, deputy head for financial and administrative affairs at the IEC, informed Salam Watandar discussions are underway on this matter. He said, if the extension of this deadline caused no harm to the overall timetable of the forthcoming elections, it would be approved.
As per officials statistics, up to 5.5 million eligible voters have so far registered with the IEC. Mr. Dawlati said this figure indicates the peoples’ participation in this process is ‘normal’.
However, Yosuf Rasheed, president of Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan (FEFA), has stressed there is a need to extend the registration process to allow more and more potential voters to register. He said the turnout so far is less than the expectations. He noted lack of awareness, insecurity and lack of trust in the electoral process as the reasons behind the low turnout for the registration process so far.
According to the Population Registration Directorate more than 4.5 million identity cards have been issued to people including eligible voters. Ruhullah Ahmadzai, spokesman for the PRD, informed Salam Watandar a large number of these people who recently obtained identity cards are eligible to vote. He added the directorate is ready to issue up to ten million identity cards, and meet the requirement of citizens at each and every corner of the country.
The PRD official acknowledged only 20 districts in the whole country are out of their coverage area due to insecurity.
ENDS
