The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has finalized the "operational plan" for the upcoming presidential elections which shows that the polls will cost $207 million, a spokesman of the electoral body said. However, the commission earlier predicted that the elections will need $192 million.
The Ghazni parliamentary elections, as well as the provincial councils' elections, will be held on the same day with the presidential polls scheduled for September 28.
The districts councils’ elections are not included in the operational plan, the IEC deputy spokesman Abdul Aziz Ibrahimi told TOLOnews.
A memorandum of understanding will be signed with the Central Statistics Organization on Saturday on the use of biometric devices in the upcoming elections, Ibrahimi said.
According to officials, the elections budget will be paid by the Afghan government and its international allies.
Meanwhile, officials said the Independent Electoral Complaint Commission (IECC) will send the results of the assessments on elections results of all the provinces to the IEC next Monday.
Member of an election anointing organization said the election process has crossed its time limit of the parliamentary elections.
“Unfortunately, we have crossed the time limit and right now there is nothing by the name of timetable in the election process,” said Yusuf Rasheed, CEO of Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan.
Massoud Ansar
Source: https://www.tolonews.com/elections-2019/presidential-elections-will-cost...