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

IEC chief Gula Jan Abdulbadi Sayyad said the number of voters registering is increasing.

“The number of voters registering their names is increasing day by day and we will reach the target that the commission has determined,” said Sayyad. 

The registration process was launched over a month ago and has three phases. The first phase was registration of voters in provincial centers, which was extended for another month. The second phase started in district centers and the third phase will soon start in villages across the country. 

The IEC chief said electoral material has been sent to villages already. 

“The main material has been transferred and soon the third phase of the voter registration process will start,” said Sayyad. 

Insecurity however is said to be one of the biggest challenges ahead of elections and some registration centers have not yet opened. 

“In Farah province so far no materials and no Tazkeras have been sent and people cannot use their voting rights as mentioned in the constitution,” IEC operations deputy chief Wasima Badghisi said. 

“In the districts where voter registration has been delayed, it will be extended for the same number of days as it has been delayed,” MP Osman Farahi said. 

A number of people and institutions overseeing the election process meanwhile said they are worried about the transparency in the voter registration process because the IEC does not have a voter database and cannot differentiate between genuine and ghost names.