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Election posters on the first day of the campaign for the parliamentary elections in Kabul, September 28, 2018 (image for illustration). REUTERS / Omar Sobhani

The presidential election is postponed by three months in Afghanistan. It was to take place on April 20th, it will finally take place on July 20th. This poll will be held in a context of security degradation in the country mired in a conflict between Taliban insurgents and government forces supported by the international community with the United States first. A conflict in which ISIS violence has been added since 2014.

With our correspondent in Kabul, Sonia Ghezali

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) says it postponed the presidential polls to give itself three months to better organize the poll. This postponement had been mentioned for several weeks already. Rumors were circulating about this while the IEC faced many criticisms.

The legislative poll last October was a fiasco in several polling stations. Absence or failure of biometric materials, incompetence of election officials, allegations of fraud, disappearance of ballot boxes. Three provinces, including Kabul, are still waiting for results.

The parliamentary elections were presented as a test for the presidential election. They revealed the many flaws of an Electoral Commission described by several observers as voluntary, but overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task.

Not to repeat the presidential election of 2014 tainted by massive fraud was yet the stated objective of this commission that had been singled out for its incompetence and its acquaintances with certain candidates.

This new timetable also gives more chances to the ongoing negotiations conducted by the United States with representatives of the Taliban abroad. The US envoy for peace in Afghanistan is increasing meetings with them in order to convince them to sit down at the negotiating table with the Afghan government.