Over 60,000 women get voter cards

JALALABAD (PAN’s affairs director on Thursday said more than 60,000 females had obtained voter registration cards in eastern Nangarhar province, despite numerous problems.

Anisa Imrani told Pajhwok Afghan News the figures were beyond her expectations because no female election staff had been appointed in nine districts and women received the cards from men.

She said in some areas, insecurity restricted women from travelling to district centres to get voter cards. She linked the high number of women recipients to the creation of mobile registration teams.

“Mobile teams have been able to give voter cards to women who could not come out of their homes.”

Anisa said tribal elders in other provinces would take women to registration centres and help them obtain voter cards, a motivation that did not happen in Nangarhar. Despite this, a large number of women have been able to get voter cards in the province, she said.

The opening of a registration centre in the premises of the provincial women’s affairs department had also an impact on the number of women receiving voter cards, Anisa said.

She said some registration centres remained operational in Jalalabad, the provincial capital, and it was expected the number of women voters would reach 80,000.

Independent Election Commission (IEC) chief for Nangarhar, Dr. Akhtar Mohammad Ajmal, said a total of 186,000 people in Nangarhar had been issued voter cards so far.

They included 67,000 females, which constituted 39 percent, he added, calling the figure remarkable.

He said women’s participation in the first phase of registration campaign had been low, but increased with the creation of mobile registration teams.

“Initially only nine percent women were issued voter cards and the current 39 percent is regarded a great achievement,” Ajmal said.

He said due to security concerns, men had to be appointed to distribute voter cards to women in some districts.

He said women’s participation in insecure areas had been lukewarm, naming the towns as Hesarak, Sherzad, Pachiragam and others. Ajmal hoped the number of women card recipients was expected to reach 90,000 until the end of the registration period.

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