IEC sets October 20 as election date in Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD, April 1 (KUNA) -- The Independent Election Commission (IEC) of Afghanistan on Sunday announced October 20, 2018 as the date for the country's parliamentary and district council elections.
IEC Chief, Abdul Badi Sayyad, announced that the parliament and district council elections will be held on October 20. He cited the lack of budget and constant delays over appointing an IEC commissioner as among key reasons for the postponed vote, he added. IEC initially announced July 7 as the date for the elections. With the start of the IEC voter registration process on April 14, Sayyad expressed hope that the security institutions come up with good news for voter registration. Ahead of the elections, the IEC has finalized 7,300 polling stations to allow voters to have their say.
The IEC has estimated the budget for the elections to be around USD 90 million that would be covered by the international community, a progress that the United Nations has welcomed.
The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamoto, said in a statement that "setting a firm date for elections is a notably positive and important development in the work of the IEC, which will allow progress from the formal planning stages to implementation." (end) sbk.nam