Election process: Taliban attacks force 748 polling centres to close

Two poll observer groups have already pulled out due to security concerns.

ISLAMABAD: Afghan Taliban’s recent attacks in capital Kabul, including two on election office, have forced the authorities to keep 748 of some 7,500 polling centres closed on April 5 – the polling day that marks the crucial presidential elections to be followed by the country’s first ever democratic transition

Afghan election officials say the polling centres across the country will remain shut due to security threats following the Taliban’s edict to their fighters to target all election-related people and polling stations.



“These polling centres have been closed down due to security threats, their inaccessibility for election observers and voters, and mining on the routes,” said Afghanistan’s Secretariat of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) chief Ziaul Haq Amarkhil at a news conference in Kabul.

He said the polling stations were spread across the country. Amarkhil, however, said polling would take place in 90% of the centres – which, he said, would be a great achievement when compared to elections in 2009 and 2010.

The IEC announcement comes after its Kabul headquarters was attacked by a group of Taliban suicide bombers on Saturday. It was the second attack on the election office in Kabul in a week.

The March 20 deadly attack on the Serena Hotel in Kabul that had also killed a foreign election observer and a journalist and the attacks on a guest house, frequented by foreigners, forced some foreign observers to pull out of Kabul.

The National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have already withdrawn – creating a situation that can cast doubt about credibility of the vote. Afghan officials, however, insist that dozens of foreign and hundreds of local groups will monitor the elections.

The IEC spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor says the panel has registered 14 international observers and the pullout of only two missions would not have any considerable effect on the monitoring process, according to private Pajhwok news agency.

About 1,206 observation groups, including 67 local, have approached the IEC to monitor the elections and the IEC has registered 150,000 individuals – poll observers and the media representatives – to oversee the process, Noor says.

Section of the Afghan media views the decision as a reflection of the lack of timely security preparations.

In spite of the Taliban threats, people are attending public meetings of presidential candidates in major cities as the election campaign for presidential candidates will end on Wednesday. Almost all eight presidential candidates addressed election rallies on Monday.

An Afghan polls monitoring body, the Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan (FEFA) says in a recent finding that 92% of the Afghans support ‘the idea of elections’ and 75% want to cast vote.

“There is some strong willingness among the people, among civil society and among the educated people to make these elections successful,” a senior official of the FEFA Jandad Spinghar told The Express Tribune from Kabul.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2014.