The Independent Election Commission (IEC) will kick off the registration process for presidential elections candidates’ on Saturday, a member of the commission said.
The election commission said the preparations for holding the 2019 presidential elections have been completed from 60 to 70 percent.
“We are preparing to start presidential elections candidates registration process on December 22,” said Maliha Hassan, an election commissioner.
An IEC spokesman, Abdul Aziz Ibrahimi, said they will use all their efforts to hold the elections on time. Meanwhile, he did not reject the possibility of a delay in the elections.
“In October 20 elections, 35,000 voters repeatedly cast their votes. They were identified when biometric devices were connected to the main server,” Ibrahimi said.
Electoral monitoring organizations meanwhile said the election commission needs serious reforms and according to them, government leaders are indifferent in this regard.
“Their action shows that they deliberately want to lead the country to a crisis,” said Yusuf Rasheed, CEO of Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan.
“The main problem is that the commission has been unable to make progress on the next steps. The list of voters and biometric system are not ready,” saidNaeem Ayubzada, head of Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan.
The IEC deputy spokesman said they have learnt from mistakes and shortcomings in the parliamentary elections and will try to avoid those problems in the presidential elections.