Although the Independent Election Commission (IEC) pledged the start of the registration process for presidential candidates on December 22, a number of potential election candidates on Wednesday said IEC officials have told them that the election management body was still preparing for it.

But, officials from the IEC on Wednesday said the commission will begin the registration process for presidential elections candidates on Thursday.

The registration process for presidential candidates remained unclear because of the ambiguity around the presidential election calendar, but the process will officially start tomorrow, said IEC officials.

Possible presidential elections candidate, Sayed Norullah Jalili, said the IEC did not allow them to register after the commission announced that the process would kick off on December 22.

“We have been prepared for the past ten days, we have also submitted money to the bank and our documents are complete, but we are waiting for the IEC to inform us,” said Jalilli.

“Mistrust already exists on the election commission, there is still the a confusing situation and the commission has not managed to clarify it,” said potential election candidate, Shaida Mohammad Abdali.

Based on the electoral timeline previously announced by the IEC, the presidential candidates were due to file nomination papers from December 22 to January 2 (Wednesday). But last week, the IEC postponed the elections for three months.

“Some of the candidates wanted to officially register their names, but the position of the commission was not final about this, therefore we requested them to come after 12th of Jadi (January 02),” said IEC deputy spokesman, Mirza Mohammad Haqparast.

But, elections observers have constantly said that the IEC under its president leadership does not have the capacity to conduct the elections transparently.

“They (IEC officials) cannot move towards the presidential elections, they must be fired from their posts, their announcement to conduct the elections is dramatic,” said Marwah Amini, spokesman for Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan.

This comes after chairman of IEC, Abdul Badi Sayyad, on Sunday said the election management body has decided to hold the country’s presidential elections on July 20 next year.

Afghanistan’s presidential elections were supposed to be held on April 20.