The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Saturday said so far almost six million people have registered to vote in the upcoming parliamentary and district council elections. 

According to the IEC, the number of registered voters totals 5,663,325 countrywide – which meets their expected target of between five and seven million people.

The IEC commissioner Sayed Hafizullah Hashemi said the first and second phases of the voter registration process in the provincial capitals and district centers will wrap up in the next three days.

Phase three, which includes villages will run from June 9 to June 26. 

“Unfortunately the extension of the first phase took time from the third phase. Now the third phase will be from June 9 up to June 26,” said Hashemi. 

Voter registration has not however been plain-sailing in Ghazni as their election commission office has been closed for almost two months.

This has sparked a sharp reaction among MPs and tribal elders who criticized the IEC for its inability to open the office.  

An institution overseeing the election process however said the election commission’s statistics will not be credible unless the commission separates the actual numbers from ghost ones. 

“The voter database is not activated and the registration books are not scanned and entered in the database, the figures that are being released cannot be accurate,” said Naeem Ayubzada, chairman of Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan. 

The IEC’s figures also show that so far over 3,000 candidates for parliament elections and over 5,000 candidates for district council elections have been given nomination papers. Of this 1,447 candidates have submitted their nomination papers to the election commission offices in the provinces.