Military

DATE=01/18/04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=AFGHANISTAN ELECTIONS (L ONLY)

NUMBER=2-311980

BYLINE=MICHAEL KITCHEN

DATELINE=ISLAMABAD

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Afghanistan's transitional President Hamid Karzai says his country is making progress towards its first free elections in more than two decades. V-O-A's Michael Kitchen reports from neighboring Pakistan on the latest developments in the Afghan electoral process.

TEXT: President Karzai registered to vote Sunday in the capital Kabul, joining the nearly half a million Afghans who have so far signed up to vote in the nation's planned elections.

The United Nations, which is helping run the registration process, says some 420-thousand voter cards have been issued so far.

But international observers are concerned that with an estimated 10-million Afghans eligible to vote, the elections for president and parliament may have to be delayed past their deadline of June this year.

President Karzai told reporters Sunday that the vote could still be held on time, so long as the international community helps speed up the registration process.

/// KARZAI ACT ///

My request is to help Afghanistan reach the election deadline on time, by providing a better means of security and by assisting us in facilitating people of the Afghanistan to get their cards for voting.

/// END ACT ///

An international agreement signed two years ago in Bonn, Germany, set a deadline for the Afghan transitional government to hand over power to a freely elected administration by June.

But logistical problems and violence from an ongoing anti-government insurgency in the country's east have slowed the registration process.

Mr. Karzai, who has already announced plans to run for re-election, says a timely vote is important for the country's transition to democracy after years of authoritarian rule and civil war.

Some U-N officials and Western diplomats say a delay may prove inevitable, with polling day being pushed back as far as December.

They add that because parliamentary elections are more complicated in terms of registering candidates and campaigns, those may have to be held even later.

Speaking during a trip to Kabul last week, European Union envoy Javier Solana said every effort should be made to hold the presidential and parliamentary polls at the same time, for several reasons.

/// SOLANA ACT ///

You have many positive elements. First it would be cheaper, . and then (there) will not be a different legitimacy.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Solana explained that in a case of separate elections with different voter turn out rates, the less-attended election could be seen as somehow less legitimate. (SIGNED)

NEB/HK/MK/MH