The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Sunday said public confidence in the electoral process was badly damaged during the crisis following the 2014 presidential elections and that the commission will do everything possible to rebuild the trust in the process.   

IEC chief Gula Jan Abdulbadi Sayad called on government and education institutions to announce a holiday so that people can register for elections. 

The IEC on Sunday also announced the timeline for the country's parliamentary and district council elections which are due to be held in October.

According to the timeline, the voter registration process will end on June 12.

Based on the timeline announced by Sayad, registration of candidates for both parliamentary and district council elections will begin on May 26 and end on June 12.

A preliminary list of candidates will be announced on June 28 while the final list will be out on August 3.

The candidates can withdraw their nominations between June 29 and August 1.

The campaign for parliamentary elections will begin on September 28 and end on October 17, while that for district councils elections will be between October 3 and October 17.

The final results of parliamentary elections will be announced on December 20 while the final results of district council elections will be on January 24.
 

According to the timeline, the final list of voting centers will be announced on June 23.

According to the IEC, over the past eight days, 230,122 people have registered to vote, of which about 50,000 are women, 3,115 are Kuchis and two are Hindus. 

The IEC chief said the commission will all its available resources to rebuild public confidence in the elections. 

“No institution will be allowed to meddle in the elections, we also call on government, political institutions and the powerful to not interfere in affairs related to elections,” said Sayad. 

“The commission has also worked on a number of other alternatives to promote awareness about elections to the people,” said the IEC’s deputy operational chief Waseema Badghisi.

The IEC hopes that between 12 and 15 million Afghans will register to vote.  

Election monitoring groups meanwhile said that the lack of confidence in the election process is concerning. 

“If the commission registers two million voters, then questions will be raised over the credibility of the elections; the commission should share its future plans with the public; if the public turnout remains low, then what will the commission do,” said Naeem Asghari, a member of Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan (FEFA). 

“This is right that the previous elections badly damaged the trust in the commission, but we will do our best to revive the public’s trust in the elections,” added Sayad.

Based on the electoral calendar, the list of polling stations will be finalized on June 23. 

The IEC has scheduled October 20 as Election Day.