There is an intentional delay tactic at play regarding the preparations of voter lists and the electronic ID registration. The concerned authorities seem not to be interested in new voter registration and they want the old lists to be used.

The design of the e-tazkira which was supposed to start the past month has not been approved yet. Those old cards of the previous voter registration can be bought at cheap prices all over the country. There were over 17 million of them, while the number of actual eligible voters for this year is about 15 million.

Rigging would be unavoidable with the old lists. The fraud machinery could actually hijack the election results through ghost voters, or in other words. Two million nonexistent fraud registered voters can decide the fate of Presidential elections in 2014.

The Independent Election Commission head Fazal Ahmad Manawi has repeatedly called for quick implementation of the new voter registration. He has warned if the registration does not happen before 2014 elections, it would cause severe crisis. He said, "Success in voter registration is in fact success in elections. If this project fails, we will not have a successful election without fraudulent issues. There is limited time left and we are still at the beginning".

The Government should push the process and start electronic ID registrations. A smooth transfer of power through free, fair and transparent elections must be ensured to avoid any crisis in 2014. Similar issues of fraud had caused a deadlock in 2009. Repeat of that experience will not pass smoothly next time. It will take the system down. Such a crisis could derail the entire process and we could plunge into political instability much more seriously and threateningly than 2009.

The old registration lists will ease fraudulent and rigging. Voters are not linked to any particular polling station, thus more than one card issued to one person in thousands.

There is enough time for a rapid and swift process. Officials say the e-tazkira project will take time and it cannot be completed before 2014 elections. But we have more than one year to go. The international community seems to be reluctant to provide about $115 million for the program. The US and other major donor countries should ensure smooth and transparent elections to keep the achievements of last ten years in governance and reconstruction from going in vain.