KABUL - The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Thursday announced plans to begin an elections awareness campaign within ten days just as efforts to recruit and register election monitors enters the final stages.
"We will initiate public awareness campaigns in February, ten days from now, and the campaign would be conducted through television, radio, conferences, banners and with the support of Imams on the district level in the provinces so that the faithful people of Afghanistan will be aware of the elections and cast their votes," IEC Secretariat Chief Zia-ul-Haq Amarkhail said.
He emphasized that the contribution of religious scholars would be important when it comes to legitimizing the elections, as they are some of the most well-respected and well-connected leaders in the country.
But Amarkhail also called on Afghan media and civil society institutions to cooperate with the election commission in enhancing public awareness about the upcoming vote.
According to Amarkhail, the process of getting election observers registered and ready is also well underway. Election monitors are considered crucial to the credibility of the April vote.
"We intend to recruit 3,000 site observers at the district level across Afghanistan, and are trying that to make sure 40 percent of them are women," IEC Secretariat Chief Zia-ul-Haq Amarkhail said.
The IEC has said that so far 126 institutions, including three international organizations, have received certification from the IEC to monitor the upcoming elections. Another 40 institutions are expected to receive certifications soon.
In other election news, Amarkhail announced that all essential election materials, including ballots, had arrived from abroad and the election commission has already forwarded much of them to the provinces.
Earlier this week, the Election Commission announced the addition of 323 new polling centers to in order to compensate for the roughly 400 that remain under serious security threat and would likely not be operational on election day. (Tolonews)