The Independent Elections Commission (IEC) marked Saturday, October 19 as the date it would announce the preliminary list of Presidential and Provincial Council candidates deemed eligible for the spring elections. However, less than 24-hours before, doubts have circulated and called into question whether or not the list will be released on time.
A number of IEC Commissioners said on Friday that the evaluation process for documents submitted by candidates during the registration period was not yet completed.
Commissioners have confirmed that 80 percent of the candidates' documents have been scrutinized and the rest are in the process of being reviewed. Some suggested the process could spill into next week.
"The Commission is working day and night, members of the Commission even worked on Friday, but if we aren't satisfied with the assessments, it is possible that our evaluations of the documents will continue for another week," said Sareer Ahmad Barmak, an IEC Commissioner.
Part of the evaluation process is related to the citizenship of candidates, which is vetted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"Some documents must be sent from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to us and other organs need to cooperate," said Barmak. "We are striving to finalize our assessments next week."
Still, however, some members of the IEC's technical section maintained that the initial list would be announced on Saturday according to plan.
If the IEC does not announce the initial list of eligible candidates according to schedule, it would be the first major deviation from the election timeline set by the IEC. Whether passing the deadline would have an effect on others parts of the process is unknown.
"Whenever a program of the Election Commission is delayed from the schedule, it highlights that there is some deficiency in the process, and such delays could raise questions over legitimacy of the elections," said Tahir Hashimi, a Kabul University lecturer.
According to the timetable, the IEC planned to announce the initial list of Presidential and Provincial Councils elections on October 19 and then final list on November 16.
There have been no confirmed reports regarding how many of the 27 candidates registered for the Presidential election will be eliminated by the IEC and Electoral Complaints Commission, which is fielding individual complaints filed against candidates, but there are some reports suggesting that five candidates would be excluded.
The legitimacy of the upcoming elections is of major concern for Afghan officials. Ahead of the coalition troop withdraw at the end of 2014, the credibility of the government system erected since the fall of the Taliban seems more vulnerable than ever. And the well documented improprieties that occurred in past elections have not encouraged confidence in the spring vote.
Many experts have said a consolidated candidate field for the Presidential elections, amongst other things like a higher voter turnout, would be essential signs of legitimacy for the upcoming elections.