UNAMA Pays 90 % of Voter Registration Budget

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has signed an agreement with the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to pay 90 percent of the budget for voter registration.

IEC secretariat head, Imam Muhammad Warimach said the implementation of IEC’s new plan costs $28 million which 90 percent of it will be paid by the UN and the remaining ten percent will be paid by the Afghan government.

Recently, the election commission has proposed a new plan to use paper identification cards for the upcoming elections.

Delays in creating reliable voter registration systems and opposition to an election commission many critics judge is too close to President Ashraf Ghani have raised doubts about whether organizers of the vote – previously slated for October 2016 – will meet the latest deadline.

Analysts are said to believe that the Afghan government and IEC commissioners do not want to hold the elections.

“The recent measures taken by IEC show that the upcoming election will face delay,” said Jandad Spin Ghar, chairman of Afghanistan election watchdog.

Less than a year before Afghanistan is due to hold much-delayed parliamentary elections, technical problems and political wrangling are hampering a project seen as vital to ensuring the country’s long-term stability.