Figures by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) indicate that almost 2,000 polling centers will remain closed on the election day due to security threats but more than 5,000 polling centers will be remain opened countrywide. 

The IEC had considered 7,385 centers for the election day but only 5,373 centers will remain open, the IEC statistics show. 

Kabul will have 558 open polling centers and only two polling centers will be closed in the province. 

Almost 300 polling centers out of 462 will remain open in Herat which is a major province in the west of the country. Other provinces in the west such as Badghis, Ghor, and Farah will have the highest number of closed polling centers with 136, 111, 174 closed centers respectively. 

Ghazni province will have the highest number of closed centers – 159 out of 406 – in the center of Afghanistan, the figures show. 

Panjshir, a secure province in the center of the country, will have only one closed center out of 97 centers while all 220 polling centers will be open on the election day in Bamiyan province, the statistics show. 

Helmand with 162 closed centers out of 462 will have the highest number of closed centers on the election day in the south of the country. 

“There will be appropriate security measures for these centers and the people can go for casting their ballots with confidence,” a spokesman for Ministry of Defense Rohullah Ahmadzai said.   

Some MPs said there is a need for close coordination among security institutions to ensure a safe environment for the presidential election scheduled for September 28.  

“Lack of coordination between security institutions and the election commission led to many problems in parliamentary elections,” MP Sayed Hassan Paktiyawal said.  

“This issue is very concerning to hear that from 7,000 centers, the figure is declined to 5,000 and now to 4,500 centers. There is the possibility that this figure will reduce if the security institutions do not launch large scale operations,” MP Abrarullah Murad said.