Security organs given list of polling stations

KABUL) on Tuesday said it was sending a list of polling stations for the 2014 presidential and 2015 parliamentary elections to security organs to enable them to come up with elaborate security plans.

The list of 6,918 voting stations will be sent to defence and interior ministries, the National Directorate of Security (NDS) and National Security Council (NSC), IEC Secretary Ziyaul Haq Amarkhel told Pajhwok Afghan News.

He said the security organs would assess security-related issues and subsequent measures over the next four months. “Security departments will assess for how many polling stations they can provide security,” he explained.

The IEC official said they had held a series of meetings with security officials on coordination for the elections. Amarkhel said IEC policies were on track and its operations going well, insisting the ballots would take place as scheduled under the Constitution.

He said cooperation from security departments, the masses and civil society groups remained crucial to making the process a success.

Amarkhel said there had been an increase of nearly 1,000 polling stations, compared with 6,000 during the previous polls, to facilitate voters.

He praised Afghan security forces for what he called an effective role in protection of polling stations and voters in the past, hoping they would once again help hold transparent elections.

He also appealed to the nation, especially tribal elders, religious scholars, political parties and civil society representatives, to discharge their national responsibility of ensuring a favourable environment for fair polls.

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