SHARANA/TIRINKOT (Pajhwok): Civil society activists and election officials in southeastern Paktika and central Uruzgan provinces on Saturday urged the masses to turn out in great numbers and cast their votes in the second round of presidential elections.
The call came at a gathering organised by civil society activists in Sharan, the capital of southeastern Paktika province. The activists promised they would closely monitor the voting process throughout Paktika to prevent irregularities.
Civil Societies Coordination office head in Paktika, Yaqub Khan Manzoor, told Pajhwok Afghan News the July 14 elections were a national process and civil society would oversee it effectively.
However, he did not provide any specific figures for observers to be appointed by civil society organizations to monitor the elections. “Dozens of civil society activists in the provincial capital, Orgun and Katawaz districts would be present at polling centres on the voting day.”
The activist said there had been instances of fraud in a number of provinces during the first round of presidential elections on April 5, but hoped the second round would be free of such anomalies.
Another civil society group leader Bara Khan Takra told Pajhwok Afghan News the subject of today’s gathering was election observation. He said residents were ready to widely take part in the runoff and asked the officials to prevent fraud.
Earlier, security officials in Paktika had told Pajhwok that they were ready to provide security during the runoff vote.
In Uruzgan, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) office called on local residents to take part in the runoff election with dedication.
IEC Uruzgan chief Abdul Hameed Sharifi told Pajhwok Afghan News that they had finalised all preparations for the runoff election. He said sensitive and non-sensitive electoral materials would be reaching the provincial capital in a week’s time before being dispatched to all polling centres.
He said they saw no problem in transporting the election materials to districts because security departments had assuaged their concerns in this regard. Sharifi sought cooperation from the masses, civil society and observers in making the election process transparent.
However, earlier participants of a seminar had said female turnout would be extremely low in the elections. Sharifi had told the seminar that up to 40 percent women in other provinces had obtained voting cards, but the percentage in Uruzgan was only eight.
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