Final List Of Polling Centers Released, New Closures To Prevent Fraud

Fuente: 
Tolo News
Fecha de publicación: 
30 Mar 2014

The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Sunday announced the final list of polling centers expected to be open on Election Day. Although the number of centers to be closed is higher than previous estimates, officials suggested this precaution would help minimize the chances of electoral fraud.

Officials said 748 out of the total 6,770 available polling centers nationwide will be closed, a 352-center jump from the original estimate of 396 made by security officials in the spring of last year. However, the current figure makes up only 10 percent of all polling centers, a much smaller portion than was the case in the 2009 presidential election.

“Our people can use 90 percent of the sites," Election Security Committee head General Salem Ehsas said. "Security institutions have taken all the preparations possible with the available resources.” 
 
The additional closures announced this week were justified by concerns surrounding security threats and challenges to  monitoring the voting process. Many of the new centers to be closed are reportedly located in or around areas where insurgents are highly active. Officials said the centers would be too vulnerable to violence and electoral fraud if they remained open. 
 
“Security institutions have indicated about 352 centers where there are security problems, participation would be difficult, observers cannot go, mines are spread around the sites and IEC and other institutions cannot go there either," IEC Secretariat chief Zia-ul-Haq Amarkhail said.

Militant leaders have promised to disrupt the upcoming elections, which will mark the first democratic transition of presidential power in Afghan history. Despite a spike in related violence in recent days, election and security officials have assured voters that their safety will be provided for and the elections will carry on as planned.

For their part, voters have expressed a similar resolve, with many voicing an even greater determination to exercise their democratic rights in light of insurgents' attempts to keep them from doing so.

 

Source/Fuente: http://www.tolonews.com/elections2014/final-list-polling-centers-release...