Local officials of western Badghis province on Saturday said that 46 polling centers out of the 160 total in the province face security threats. Mobile voter registration teams were also said to have not been deployed yet due to security issues.

According to the Badghis officials, 22 of the at-risk polling centers are in Bala Murghab District, 10 in Ab Kamari, eight in Jawand and five in Qads.

Security issues in the lead-up to April have been a leading concern for Afghan officials, who fear threats to the voter registration process and polling centers could result in low turnout and increase the likelihood of fraud, putting the legitimacy of the pivotal elections in question.

"We are worried that we cannot launch election campaigns in the insecure districts of the province," said Zial Gul Ahmad, a member of the Badghis Provincial Council. "We cannot send supervisors to insecure districts, so in these places there could be more fraud."

Nevertheless, local security officials as well as ones in Kabul have continuously sought to assure the public they are taking great pains to improve security in troubled areas and that the polls will be safe come April.

"Security is not a problem and we can guarantee that we will provide security for all the polling centers for the elections and they will be held in all parts of the province," said Mohammad Qayoum Hamkar, a senior security official in Badghis.

Last week, however, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) noted that voter registration offices in seven districts around the country remained unopened. Out of those, four were said to lack the presence of Afghan security forces all together.

Officials of the Badghis branch of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) acknowledged the security concerns facing local polling centers, but expressed confidence in the Afghan forces ability to resolve the issues before polls open for voters in the spring.

"The Election Commission expects that security forces will provide security for the polling centers so that everyone can participate in the upcoming elections," said Mustafa Musadiq, acting IEC head in Badghis.

The Badghis Governor, Ahmadullah Alizai, has said that he is in talks with tribal elders in the most troubled districts.

"We had a meeting about the issues and encouraged them to help us in the election process so people can participate," he said.

More than 20,000 residents including 5,000 women have received voting cards in Badghis province this year.

Thirty Badghis men and five women are said to have filed nominations for the Provincial Council elections.