The provincial office of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) said voter registration centers in five districts of Nangarhar face serious security threats.

Addressing an event to launch the voter registration process, Zabihullah Wagari, head of the IEC’s Nangarhar office, said the districts of Hesarak, Sherzad, Batikot, Deh Bamal and Mohmand Dara face serious security threats.

“We have concerns about (security of) some districts (in Nangarhar) but we have considered security plans for them. I have been assured that security concerns will be addressed at some extent by the time the voter registration process starts in districts,” he said. 

Nangarhar governor Gulab Mangal meanwhile said government forces continue their efforts to ensure the safety of all voter registration centers in the province.

“Three or four districts do not have good security. We will try to ensure their safety by the time the process starts there. We will try to provide a safe environment for people to attend elections,” he said.

Some officials doubt the elections will be transparent. 

“I suggest that voter registration centers should not be established in those (insecure) areas because if this happened, it will provide the ground for fraud,” said Zabihullah Zmarai, secretariat of Nangarhar Provincial Council.

“National identity cards cannot be issued there (in insecure areas) and if it did not happen, it will affect the transparency of elections; and monitors and civil society activists cannot travel to the areas during election day,” said Ejaz Malikzai, head of transparent and fair election foundation in the east zone.

This comes after President Ashraf Ghani officially launched the long-awaited voter registration process in Kabul on Saturday.