With only one day left before Afghanistan’s presidential election, the Independent Election Commission, IEC, announced that the voting will begin at 7am and will end on 3pm but only biometric-confirmed votes will be counted.

A key issue is the use of a voter’s photo which is a must, the IEC chairperson Hawa Alam Nuristani said.

“Non-biometric votes will not be acceptable for us and there is no alternative. Only the votes which will are registered by biometric devices will be counted,” she reiterated.

More than 4,500 polling centers will be opened on the election day, which is September 28. Up to 445 centers will remain closed and almost 9.6 million people have registered to vote, according to the IEC.

Nuristani said the commission is fully prepared to hold transparent elections.

IEC commissioner Mawlana Mohammad Abdullah, meanwhile, called on all stakeholders, citizens and media to play an active role in preventing electoral fraud and help ensure a transparent election.

“We cannot announce the final results at the end of the election day,” she said, adding that at the end of the day, only the total number of voters will be announced.

Based on the election timeline, the election results should be announced on October 30.