Parliamentary elections in Afghanistan are scheduled for October 20

Beijing. April 2. Silkroadnews - On Sunday, the head of the Afghan Election Commission, Gula Jan Sayad, officially announced October 20 as a day of elections to the parliament and provincial councils, the Afghan Telegraph Agency (AfTAG) reports.
Among the major issues behind the elections postponement there are unstable security situation, which may hinder polling stations operation in many regions of the country.
“Afghan security forces have assured us they will carry out operations in insecure areas not in government control and to ensure security for people in the voter registration and voting stages of the election,” the head of the Election Commission said.
Commenting on the firm election date announcement Tadamichi Yamamoto, head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, noted that this step would help further planning the electoral process.
Open and general elections are significant for Afghanistan as a part of demonstration of the strength of the democratic political process taking root here, the diplomat said.
Afghanistan’s election campaign is expected to cost around $28.4 million, and donors pledged to fund up to 90% of this amount, while the remaining 10% are planned to be allocated from the state budget of the republic.
To remind, the term of office of the current parliament expired in June 2015, yet the elections were repeatedly postponed under various pretexts, and powers extended by presidential decree. This year, the elections were originally scheduled for July 7, but have later been postponed to autumn.