JALALABAD (PAN): Mobile voter registration teams have been working across eastern Nuristan province, an Independent Election Commission (IEC) official said on Sunday.
Izzatullah Haleem, the provincial IEC chief, told Pajhwok Afghan News during an interview that mobile teams had been sent to all districts and would be dispatched to stable and secure villages.
“Our teams cannot go to areas where the security situation is unstable,” he said, adding it was not immediately known how many individuals had so far obtained voter cards, because contacts with some mobile teams had been snapped.
“We are trying our best to assess how many people have been given voter cards. As we have lost contact with some teams, this calculation has been delayed.”
The official said security concerns existed in all areas of Nuristan, including the capital Paroon. But despite these problems, the commission has been trying to cover the entire region.
He believed women would make half of voter card recipients. Haleem alleged the provincial administration interfered in their affairs, but not worth discussing.
In Nuristan, a total of 47 people, including seven women, had registered as provincial council candidates, but five of them were removed from the IEC’s preliminary list.
Haleem urged security for election staff because insecurity could threaten the process. “A stable security environment can ensure a transparent vote in Nuristan.”
He said Nuristan was a mountainous province, where most residents could not travel to district centres and the provincial capital for getting voter cards.
But deputy provincial council head Amanullah Inayat said mobile voter registration teams had confined their activities to district centres alone and had not been able to visit remote parts.
“They cannot go even five kilometers away from a district centre because of insecurity,” he concluded.
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