The Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced the opening of voter registration centres in Azra district of Logar province and Mandol district of Nuristan province after security forces successfully curtailed insurgent activity in the areas.
The IEC said that it could not originally open the centres because of growing insurgent violence in the region. However, Zia-ul-Haq Amarkhil, the head of the IEC Secretariat, explained to TOLOnews that security forces were able to eliminate the threats.
Mr. Amarkhil said that the openings of centres in 10 other districts are delayed due to security challenges.
The IEC praised the efforts of security forces to improve security in the troubled areas so that the registration process could continue unimpeded. However, the IEC emphasized that more still needed to be done.
The Ministry of Interior (MoI) has assured that security across the country would be guaranteed so that the elections next spring are conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner.
Meanwhile, the IEC expressed its concerns with the low female turn out during the registration process. In light the low turnout, the Mr.
Amarkhil told TOLOnews that the Commission urged all parties, coalitions and women rights activists to encourage women to participate in the registration process.
The IEC said that out of the 350,000 registered voters; nearly 70,000 of them are women.
The development happened after the Ministry of Interior (MoI) assured that the security across the country would be guaranteed in order to conduct the upcoming elections in a free, fair and transparent manner.
The presidential election is scheduled to take place on the 5th of April, 2014, but still there are several challenges that must be resolved ahead of time. Among them, aside from security concerns, are the lack of a sufficient monitoring system for campaigns, the regulations on candidate campaign expenditures and the nominations of Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) members.