The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has finalized a draft plan for voters list with the hope that the next elections will be held under the e-voting system, the IEC operational deputy chief Wasima Badghisi said on Sunday.

Badghisi said the draft plan was formulated for an electronic system. 

“The budget related to voters list has been finalized and soon it will be sent to relevant institutions. The independent election commission wants to prepare voters list by using e-system,” said Badghisi. 

“The commission wants to conduct the next elections by using e-voting system, but government needs to provide budget for it,” added Badghisi.

Meanwhile, the Presidential Palace has said that government has accelerated its efforts to ensure the delivery of budget for elections. 

“The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is committed to ensuring budget and security of elections,” President Ashraf Ghani’s spokesman Shahussain Murtazawi said.

The IEC had initially announced that it intended to call in local, regional and international experts to assist with a strategic assessment around implementing an e-voting system.

It is believed that the new voters list would leave significant impact on ensuring the credibility and legitimacy of the electoral process. However, the IEC has said that $68 million USD is required to execute the plan. 

Election monitoring groups and observers have raised their hope that the new plan would ensure transparency and legitimacy of the upcoming elections.

“It is a positive move for ensuring transparency in the elections, but the main issue is that whether all parties and politicians are agreed in this respect,” said Jandad Spinghar, chairman of Afghan Civil Society Election Network.

“In the view of the capacity of the election commission and the ongoing political issues between the politicians, the chances for using the e-voting system (in upcoming elections) in the near future is very less,” member of Election Watch Afghanistan Habibullah Shinwari said.

Although the IEC has said that upcoming parliamentary and district councils’ elections would not take place this year, but the commission has assured that the assessment of all polling centers in the country would be finalized within the next one month and there would be no ‘ghost election centers’ in the future.