Senior IEC Officials in Dubai to Purchase Biometric Devices

Senior IEC Officials including the chairman of the commission and IEC Chief Secretariat have traveled to Dubai to purchase biometric devices for the upcoming presidential election.

Electoral observers on Saturday said that the senior officials have traveled instead of the technical staff of the IEC and in fact, it is an entertainment trip for them.

“Professional staff had to go instead of IEC officials. Unfortunately, their trip is for the purpose of entertainment,” said Yousuf Rashid, member of a Kabul-based electoral monitoring organization.

Meanwhile, the presidential candidates criticize the government for their lack of intention to maintain the election’s transparency.

“The absence of biometric devices benefits Ghani and therefore the government is not much interested in using the biometric devices in the upcoming presidential election,” said Faramarz Tamana, a presidential candidate.

For the first time, IEC used the biometric devices in the 2018 parliamentary elections which had several technical problems.

“There is not any professional person in entire the commission whom can be relied on for holding a transparent election. Therefore, it is better the government consumes the budget for purchasing the biometric devices,” said Najibullah Ahmadzai, a former official of IEC.

IEC denied sharing their viewpoint on this issue.

Based on the modified election ruled, IEC was supposed to use the new technology in the entire process of the elections.

However, this commission will use the biometric devices only in the polling day for identifying the voters.

The Afghan people will go for the presidential elections on September 28 while there are concerns about the election’s transparency and security across the country.