Political Parties Urge IEC to Assure Effectiveness of Biometric Devices

Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Thursday said that the process of transferring sensitive election materials to provinces will begin on August 30.

On Wednesday, IEC expressed concerns regarding the biometric devices; however, officials said today that all challenges related to the devices have been resolved.

Meanwhile, a number of political parties warned that they will not accept the devices unless IEC assures them regarding the effectiveness of the biometric system.

Mohammad Natiqi, Deputy of Hezb-e-Wahdat Islami Mardom Afghanistan said that the political parties have agreed over the usage of biometric devices and if it didn’t happen we will stand against the move.

Bashir Ahmad Tahyanj, a spokesman for Jumbish-e-Milli party said that the responsible company and the IEC should resolve all challenges because we are concerned and the election is due in another one month.

Kabul-based election monitoring organizations also express concern saying they afraid that the crisis of the October parliamentary election may repeat once again.

Habib Shinwary, member of Election and Transparency Watch of Afghanistan (ETWA) suggested to the IEC that they should experience the devices in four provinces ahead of the election in order to make sure about their effectiveness on polling day.

This comes as the Afghan presidential election is scheduled to be held on September 28.