KABUL - The government leaders have finally agreed on the legal aspects of the electronic-National Identity Cards (e-NIC), the office of the second vice president, Mohammad Sarwar Danish, said on Tuesday.
According to a Danish’s aide, President Ashraf Ghani is likely to sign an order for the launching of e-NIC within a few days.
“The interview process of the candidates for the position of head of the IEC secretariat also started today. After full assessments, the president will take a decision on one of the qualified cadres,” said presidential spokesman Shahhussain Murtazawi.
Regarding the e-NIC, printing the ethnicity of the holder on the front page of the card, was one of the controversial issues that undermined the rollout of e-NIC for months.
Sources now say that in terms of the new agreement between government leaders and the implementation of amendments in the census law, a holder’s ethnicity will indeed be printed on the front page of the e-NIC.
“Because he election calendar is overtaken by the time necessary for rolling out the ID cards to the citizens, we are working on a third option regarding the elections,” said Jawed Faisal, deputy CEO spokesman.
It is believed that the roll-out process of e-NIC would be a step forward toward holding transparent elections in Afghanistan in the future. However there are some concerns that all Afghan citizens may not be able to get their cards by the time of the elections.
There is speculation that fundamental reforms have not been put in place in Afghanistan’s election system in the view of current challenges facing Afghanistan’s election management bodies – the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC).
“After the ratification of the census law and after the issuing of the legislative order by the president, practical steps for the roll-out process of electronic ID cards will be started,” said Mohammad Hedayat, media advisor to Danish.
Three years have passed since politicians started grappling with the issues over the e-NIC roll-out. Constant delays have also followed because of major distrust between donors. (Tolonews)