As Kandahar is about to witness the parliamentary elections on Saturday, some residents of the southern province said they are ready to participate in the process and vote for their favorite candidate.
The parliamentary elections was held nationwide on October 20 and 21, except in Kandahar and Ghazni provinces. At least 4 million people participated in the elections.
Elections in Kandahar was delayed after the provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Raziq was assassinated in a shootout just two days ahead of the election day. Ghazni elections were delayed for an unknown time due to disagreements on reduction of constituencies and security issues.
Some Kandahar residents said the Independent Election Commission (IEC) should have learned from the problems occurred in the elections in 32 provinces last week and that such shortcomings should not be repeated in the province.
“People should vote to those candidates who will work for the country,” said Mohammad Wali, a Kandahar resident.
“In some provinces, there were problems in voting on the elections day. I hope that those problems are not repeated in Kandahar,” said Qudratullah, a Kandahar resident.
Nematullah Wardak, head of the IEC office in Kandahar, said elections will be held in 173 polling centers in the province of which at least 10 centers in five districts are under high security threats.
According to IEC officials, from 17 districts of the province, 15 will witness elections on Saturday, but there will be no elections in Maroof and Nish districts because no voters have registered to vote there.
“We have the experience to find problems and change weak points to positive points. A team from the central IEC office is in Kandahar to manage the process,” said Wardak.
Kandahar local officials said they are fully prepared to hold the elections.
“Security measures have been taken. We want our people that it is a national process and they should determine their destiny by their own vote,” said Abdul Hanan Munib, deputy head of Kandahar governor.
The IEC statistics show that 111 candidates from Kandahar will compete for 11 seats in the Wolesi Jirga, the Afghan parliament, of which three seats are only for women.
According to the election commission, 567,000 people have registered to vote in Kandahar.