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Afghanistan Launches Voter Registration For Parliamentary Elections


Gulajan Sayad, chairman of the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan
Gulajan Sayad, chairman of the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan

Afghanistan has launched its voter registration drive for long-delayed parliamentary and provincial council elections that are scheduled for October.

Gulajan Sayyad, chairman of the Independent Election Commission (IEC), told reporters on April 14 that voters could register in some 7,300 polling centers across the country.

As part of electoral reforms after the fraud-marred presidential election in 2014, voters must register again and will receive new voting identification cards.

In early April, the IEC announced that parliamentary and provincial council elections, originally slated for July, would be pushed back to October 20.

Mohammad Yousuf Rashed, the head of the Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan, an independent organization, said that of 7,300 polling stations due to be set up for the elections, 948 were in areas "out of government control."

Parliamentary elections should have been held in 2015 but were postponed after the 2014 presidential vote and unresolved disputes about election reforms.

Based on reporting by dpa and Tolo News
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