The first coordination meeting of 2018 with election stakeholders

The Election Department of FEFA held the first coordination meeting with the election stakeholders and election relevant institutions on March 28, 2018 at FEFA. The meeting was attended by representatives from the following institutions: The Independent Election Commission, The Central Statistics Organization, The Independent Directorate of Local Governance, Ministry of Women Affairs, Democracy International Institute and the civil society organizations. The representative of Central Civil Registration Authority was also invited to attend and provide information about issuance of paper national ID cards and preparation of voters list but he didn’t attend. Mrs. Maleha Hassan a member of the IEC provided information about the activities and performance of IEC and said, “The IEC has completed the ToT of voter registration process and preparation of voters list and recruited 1000 staffs for voter registration process. Applicants to the positions which come under grade 1 to 8 have been shortlisted by the IEC. The IEC has started an awareness campaign about elections through TV broadcasts, radio spots, printed brochures, billboards and other relevant materials.” She said that according to a report prepared by the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission, 373 complaints have been recorded on polling centers. Hence, 19 additional polling centers have been established. She declared that given the status quo, redistricting of electoral constituencies is impossible and the reports provided by the Independent Directorate of Local Governance and Central Statistics Organization in this regard is unrealistic. She said October 20, 2018 has been confirmed as date for parliamentary and district council elections. The elections will be held based on the statistics of population provided by the Central Statistics Organization in solar year 1396. Then, Mr. Mir Agha Sayhoon representative of the Independent Directorate of Local Governance provided information about the activities of joint directive made up of the security institutions and local governances in 34 provinces of Afghanistan. He added that redistricting electoral constituencies is possible and the Independent Directorate of Local Governance can implement a plan for redistricting once the plan is submitted. He said that the border problems between the districts is less.