As the deadline looms for the upcoming parliamentary and district council elections, some political parties are trying to mount pressure on the Independent Election Commission to hold the polls as scheduled and on Saturday issued a joint declaration calling for certain issues to be tackled.

Twenty political parties and movements issued the joint resolution in which they called for the review of specifying voting centers and the rights of political parties to monitor electoral processes.

“We are committed to using elections as a tool to overcome crisis,” said a member of Jamiat-e-Islami Party’s leadership Muhayuddin Mahdi. 

“Ensuring the transparency of elections and no opposition from any side on (election) results can happen if all election processes are monitored by political parties and election coalitions – from start to the end. And mistakes and flaws of previous elections should not be repeated,” said Mahdi.

“The parliamentary elections should be held in July. The votes of every polling center of the involved political parties should be transferrable in order to prevent the waste of votes,” said Zmaryalai Ahadi, head of Qiyam-e-Milli (national rebellion) party of Afghanistan.

The parties meanwhile called for voting rights to be given to refugees and internally displaced persons – also known as IDPs.