Documents seen by TOLOnews reveal that based on security assessments, 445 polling centers will remain closed in 18 provinces on election day.

Balkh leads with 131 closed centers, then Ghor with 55, Faryab with 44, and finally Herat with 33.

The total number of polling centers is 5,373, according to Election Commission.

Kunduz and Jawzjan each has seven closed centers, Kandahar has five, and Kapisa and Parwan provinces each have three closed.

But no center will remain closed in the provinces of Helmand, Ghazni, Nangarhar, Paktia and Paktika, which have faced the highest level of violence over the past five years.

The Deputy Minister of Interior Gen. Khoshal Sadat said at a press conference in Kabul on Friday that security forces have removed many threats against polling centers.

“The first stage ended with better results compared with previous elections and the second stage begins tomorrow (Saturday),” he said.

He said that despite threats by militants, only eight attacks were held against election campaigns over the past two months, whereas that number was over 90 during that last election in 2014.