Afghanistan’s presidential election will be held on April 5, 2014, months ahead of the final withdrawal of Nato combat troops from the insurgency-plagued nation, a poll official said on Tuesday.
President Hamid Karzai, who is serving his second term, is constitutionally barred from running in the election and has been under pressure from opposition groups to announce the date.
Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission said in a statement that the date for the vote was set and would be officially announced at a press conference on Wednesday.
But a senior official in the commission said on condition of anonymity that the scheduled date was “Hamal 16, 1393”, referring to the Afghan solar calendar. The date coincides with April 5, 2014.
Karzai’s re-election in 2009 was marred by widespread allegations of fraud, and the credibility of the next vote is seen as crucial to Afghanistan’s stability after the Nato withdrawal.
“The transparency and credibility of the elections are of paramount importance for Nato,” its spokesman in Afghanistan, Dominic Medley, said last week.