HERAT CITY - The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on Tuesday hailed the ongoing electoral process as successful and involved no serious concerns.

UNAMA’s spokeswoman Nilab Mubarez told a news conference in Herat City, the capital of western Herat province, the mission was optimistic the Afghan government would be able to improve the environment.

While hoping that people would be enabled to participate actively in the polls slated for April 5, she said: “UNAMA wants the elections to be conducted in a transparent and peaceful way on due date.”

Mubarez appreciated President Hamid Karzai’s decree barring government officials from interfering in the election process and supporting candidates. The decree issued on Sunday stressed no candidate should be allowed to use government machinery for election campaigns.

Mubarez said women’s participation in the democratic exercise would increase as two million people, 30 percent of them women, had so far obtained voter cards. (Pajhwok)