Afghanistan�s Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Sunday said the long-delayed parliamentary and district council elections will be held next year in the month of Mizan (Afghanistanian date which corresponds to Sept-Oct 2018).

Waseema Badghisi, operational deputy chief of the IEC, emphasized that there is no concern for more delays in holding the elections and the exact date will be announced soon.

"Technically, there will be a delay from one to three months. The election date will not be in the winter; it will be in fall," Badghisi said.

However, election observers express concern regarding the government willing to hold elections and accuses the IEC for being incapable.

"If the government is having a will to hold elections and the international community back us, the elections will happen, but yet the government has no intention," Naeem Ayoubzada, Executive Director of Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan (TEFA) said.

"The election must not be delayed to November or December because a lot of people were unable to attend in the elections in the past due to the cold weather," Yousuf Rasheed, Executive Director of Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan (FEFA) added.

This comes as earlier the IEC announced that the parliamentary and district council election will be held on July 7, 2018, but the scheduled date was postponed due to rifts in the election commission, lack of budget and security issues.

LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/9573

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