Presidential election: 5,374 polling stations countrywide

KABUL) on Sunday said 5,374 polling stations would stay open for around 9.6 million voters across the country on the presidential election day (Sept 28).

IEC chief Hawa Alam Nuristani told a press conference here that a total of 96,654,745 people including 3,334,230 of them women have registered as voters for the next month’s election.

She said 5,374 polling stations and 29,586 polling sites would be open for voters on the election day.

Nuristani said 18,467 sites had been specified for women voters and the rest for men voters.

“The IEC on June 1 announced that 5,373 polling stations would be open in all 34 provinces of the country on the election day, these stations were specified for registering new voters in 33 provinces and all voters in Ghazni province (where Wolesi Jirga election did not take place),” she said.

She said 19 voter registration centers out of 233 were closed in Ghazni province due to security issues.

Nuristani added the IEC was able to register voters in Darzab district of Jawzjan, Nish district of Kandahar and Kohistan district of Faryab where general registration could be conducted previously due to security problems.

Maulana Abdullah, a IEC commissioner, told today’s press conference that the commission was committed to holding presidential election on September 28.

He said the IEC had taken some steps for preventing fraud and electoral violations and biometric system and fingerprints were part of those measures.

“This process would be watched by domestic and foreign observers, election oversight institutes, political parties and coalitions, media and observers of candidates”, she said.

mds/ma