Afghanistan training election officials on biometric system as vote looms
Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) has launched a training program to teach 250 employees how to use its biometric system in preparation for upcoming elections, Brinkwire reports.
An IEC spokesperson said that female staff will collect biometrics at polling stations for women, and male staff will take biometrics at polling stations for men. The IEC says 4,400 of an expected 24,000 units of biometric hardware have arrived in Kabul, and has also confirmed that DERMALOG is the company supplying the technology. The remaining units procured by the IEC for 15 million Euros are expected to be delivered by October 10.
With elections held at 21,000 polling stations on October 20, some in the country are concerned that not enough time is left to prepare for biometric voter verification.
“I am not sure that the commission can use biometric system in such short time. I don’t think that the biometric system will help in elections transparency as people and political parties expect,” said Habibullah Shianwari of Election Watch Afghanistan.
The IEC plans to verify voter identities by comparing their fingerprints and facial images to government IDs.
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