| Election officials are making final prepartions for parliamentary elections in Afghanistan - now set for September 18 - after the vote was postponed twice. The election is seen as the next key step toward Afghanistan's transition to a democracy, following last year's first presidential elections since the United States forces drove the fundamentalist Taleban from power. |
In the capital, Kabul, ballot boxes for provincial and parliamentary elections began arriving from Canada. About 6,000 candidates have registered Friday.
Afghan voters will chose a new national legislature and provincial assemblies. At least a quarter of all seats in both bodies have been reserved for women.
International media relations officer Aleem Siddique said preparations for the elections are going according to plan. "We now have over 50 percent of the material required for both the provincial council and the Wolesi Jirga elections," he said. "This flight alone is carrying thousands of ballot boxes and we are on track and on time to deliver the elections on polling day September 18."
Meanwhile, a group of actors are touring rural sections of Afghanistan to teach locals how to vote.
The actors performed a play about the electoral process for residents of the town of Bamiyan, some 129 kilometers west of Kabul.
