Voter registration a slow process: Electoral body

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AT-KABUL: The Independent Election Commission said Sunday that the voter registration for the upcoming legislative election was heading in a slow process with only 60,000 to 75,000 people registering every day across the country. A member of the commission, Sayed Hafizullah Hashemi, said they were not satisfied with the process, but hoped it would accelerate in the next days.

So far, over 600,000 people have registered, according to Hashemi, who said the commission was fully prepared to hold the parliamentary election at the planned date (October 20) and had no technical or administrative problems.

He said that the commission had already started working on the next year’s presidential election and all the logistical and budget problems had been solved. Presidential election is supposed to be held next April. President Ashraf Ghani’s service term will be over next June.

Insecurity and people’s mistrust to the electoral process are called main challenges that threaten the process. More than 200 civilians were killed and injured in last week’s suicide bomber against a voter registration center in the west part of Kabul. The attack claimed by the Daesh terrorist group, has scared a large number of people to take part in the election.

Analysts call on the government to provide a secure atmosphere for a better election.

“What are important for election are security, public awareness, foreign support and serious monitor. If the government pays less attention in these matters, I don’t think we’ll have a good election,” Gol Ahmad Kamin said.

Another analyst said the election would be a big exam for the government. “Despite the government’s frequent commitments, we see that there are security problems that undoubtedly puts negative impacts on the electoral process,” Mohammadagol Mojahed said.