NEWS RELEASE
HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND
7115 South Boundary Boulevard
MacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101
Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894
August 16, 2004
Release Number: 04-08-47
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
VOTERS REGISTRATION SUCCEEDS IN AFGHANISTAN
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan - An estimated nine million Afghans are registered for Afghanistan's historical democratic elections scheduled for October. With registration ending Aug. 15, approximately 90 percent of all eligible voters in the country already hold their own voter registration card. Forty-one percent of registrants are women.
David Avery, chief of operations of the Joint Electoral Management Body with the United Nations, said voter registration has been successful.
"Our goal was to allow all of the Afghan people the possibility of registering to vote and take part in the election," Avery said. "We are pretty happy . we think it's been a success."
Avery attributes the success of voter registration to the Afghan people.
"The key defining this exercise is the Afghan people and their willingness and dedication to take part in the elections," Avery said.
The south-central region of Afghanistan is still a "hot spot", with Taliban attacks on Coalition forces occurring almost daily. Avery said the attacks were a concern to the JEMB.
"When we started this operation we expected that there would be three provinces which would pose a difficulty, and may in fact not be accessible, that was Zabul, Paktika and Uruzgon," Avery said. "In fact we registered people in all of those (provinces), and we have made it to almost every district in the country and there were many that we thought would not be possible."
Marine Corps Maj. Tim Barrick, Combined Joint Task Force 76 future operations officer, is working closely with the voter registration process and said although voting in Afghanistan is similar to the United States, there are key differences.
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