The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Saturday announced that it has prepared the database for the voter registration process through which provincial heads of the institution can update data on a daily basis.



Despite the progress, members of Afghanistan’s civil society institutions and election observers seem skeptical about the IEC’s ability to manage the database.



But IEC officials have assured the public about the transparency of the process, saying that no one should be concerned about the transparency and credibility of the voters database.



According to the IEC, more than 600,000 people have registered since the start of the voter registration process on April 14.



From the figure, 150,000 are women, said the IEC.



“Statistics are gathered in a correct and transparent manner, there should be no kind of concern in this respect,” said IEC commissioner Sayed Hafiz Hashimi.



“They announced yesterday that the database is ready, but our observers so far have not managed to see how the process is moving, the commission must allow the institutions to oversee how the statistics are being entered into the database,” said Yousuf Rashid, CEO of FEFA.



“To determine transparency of elections and to obtain the confidence of the people, the commission must allow the observers to see how the commission works,” said civil society activist Shukria Jalalzai.



The IEC said that the women’s turnout in Afghanistan’s major cities, the north and Helmand province is higher compared to other provinces.



Maidan Wardak so far registered the lowest turnout of women in the process, officials said.