by Farid Behbud
KABUL, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan Election Commission (IEC) has extended the voter registration for the long-delayed parliamentary and district councils' elections scheduled for Oct. 20, to allow more eligible voters to register, the IEC said on Friday.
According to IEC plan, the voter registration in the country's 34 provincial centers was supposed to start on April 14 and end on May 13, but the process was extended until June 12, the IEC said in a statement.
As of May 8, more than 1.4 million of some 12 million eligible voters have registered for the polls amid security fears and militants' intimidation, according to the latest figures released by the IEC.
The first parliamentary election in the post-Taliban Afghanistan was held in 2005 while the second parliamentary polls took place in 2010.
However, the 2015 parliamentary polls, originally set to be held in early 2015 following presidential elections, were repeatedly delayed.
The IEC has also brought some changes in the registration process due to local citizens' demands over pasting of voting verification stickers into their identity cards.
"As the countrymen, who live or travel into remote insecure areas, have shared their concerns with the IEC over pasting of voting verification stickers into their Identity Cards following registration... so the IEC decided from now onwards, the voting verification stickers will be fixed in the photocopy of the voters' ID cards but the voters should also hold their real ID cards with themselves on the election day," the statement said.
Meanwhile, the process of voter registration in districts will start on May 15 and will continue until May 30 while that in the village level will start on May 31 and will end on June 12 when the registration process ends across the country, the statement added.
"The IEC will take all measures to ensure no fraud will take place in the polls and all eligible Afghans will be able to cast their votes in a free and fair election," the statement said.
Observers say insecurity is the most serious challenge and it seems that ensuring safety of the elections will be a daunting challenge for the Afghan security forces as well as international troops.
On Thursday, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released a report which details a disturbing pattern of attacks at election-related facilities following the start of voter registration.
"UNAMA verified 23 election-related security incidents since voter registration began on 14 April. These incidents have resulted in 271 civilians killed and injured, with the vast majority of civilian casualties occurring on 22 April from a suicide attack among a crowd gathered outside a national identity card distribution centre in Kabul, resulting in 198 civilian casualties," the UN mission said in a statement.
Of the 23 election-related security incidents verified by UNAMA and identified in the new report, 10 of them involved threats, harassment and intimidation by anti-government elements against election-related personnel, teachers and potential voters, including allegations of confiscation of identity cards and fines imposed for possession of voter registration stickers, the statement said.
"Elections-related violence should remind everyone that efforts toward peace in Afghanistan cannot be set aside," Tadamichi Yamamoto, special UN envoy and head of UNAMA, was quoted as saying in the statement.
"The way forward must not rely on a military solution but rather a democratic process, and I once again urge the Taliban to take up President Ashraf Ghani's peace offer, participate in the elections, and start direct talks with the government to put an end to the suffering of the Afghan people," he said.
On Thursday, Ghani also chaired a security meeting and discussed election security with IEC officials and security authorities in the Presidential Palace.
As the political parties in the country did not meet all standards, most of the candidates will contest independently for the 249-seat lower house of parliament for a five-year term.