Afghanistan Times
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It is necessary to have a biometric voting system in a bid to help for having a fair, credible election as it demolishes fraud with core principles of protecting democratic process of voting. Establishing election integrity is a cornerstone of modern democracy that promotes trust and honesty in elected governments and promotes confidence and faith in elected leaders. The results of biometric voting is acceptable to all because it ensure fast, accurate, and reliable voter registration at the polls under any conditions that help to maintain the integrity and credibility of the electoral process and reduce mistrust and irregularities. Noting the fact, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) is considering holding the coming legislative elections via biometric system to ensure fair and transparent polls, in a move that acknowledges demands of political parties. All efforts at card to put in place biometric system in the October 20th polls. The poll panel has agreed to consider biometric voting at a time when the opposition alliance has been warning to boycott elections if their demands for a transparent election via biometric voting system remained unmet. Their demands for drastic reforms sprung from sweeping allegations of fraudulence ahead of elections. Recently, Grand National Coalition of Afghanistan, a political alliance made up of several parties has revealed sign of systemic fraud in elections by submitting a list of 400 candidates to IEC to announce 200 of them as winner who support the government. It has been times now that political parties raising concerns that elections with the ongoing faulty system will have dangerous pitfalls and will pave the ground once again for interferences of outsiders. It’s widely believed that the forthcoming elections will be inundated with rigging as many counterfeited Tazkiras and stickers have already been distributed. A vote with such faulty pre-election campaign will have ‘chaotic consequences’ and cast shadow on legitimacy of elections. No one is against election, but to a fair and transparent one. Now by announcement of biometric, at somehow it will overcome concerns by the people and political parties. A country cannot be truly democratic until its citizens have the opportunity to choose their representatives through elections that are free and fair. Critical development efforts cannot succeed without a legitimate and democratically elected government that is responsive and accountable to its citizens. Elections provide an important opportunity to advance democratization and encourage political liberalization.
