Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

IEC Yet to Decide on Use of Biometric System in Elections

IEC Yet to Decide on Use of Biometric System in Elections

KABUL - The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Monday so far has not reached a final decision on the use of the biometric system in the upcoming presidential elections scheduled for September 28.  
Based on the amendment made in the election law, the IEC should hold the elections with the help of biometric system.
“Assessment has been done about biometric system. It has been shared with the government, the operational planning is also completed, the MDR system has been shared with the government. The commission will take the final decision once the government takes its decision,” the IEC deputy spokesman Zabiullah Sadat said.
Elections observer organizations said the IEC has limited time to organize four elections at once while it has not completed its homework.
“So far, we are not seeing any sign that could indicate that they have the ability to organize the elections,” said Daud Ali Najafi, former head of the IEC's secrtariate.
“The first discussion is about the time, because we have got less time. In the view of the challenges that the commission has, I don’t think that it will be able to take all preparations for the elections in five months’ time. Still the issue of budget has not been sorted out. Where they will get the money from,” said Sughra Saadat, a spokesperson to Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan (TEFA).
The new amendments in the election law were approved by President Ghani in February based on which new commissioners were appointed for the two electoral bodies – the Independent Election Commission and the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission.
This comes as former election commissioners have been accused of corruption and their cases have been handed to the Attorney General’s Office and have been banned from traveling outside the country. So far, it is not clear whether judicial organizations have started investigation into the allegations against the election commissioners. (Tolo news)