KABUL - UN envoy Kai Eide has visited one of the polling stations in Kabul at the Zarghona High School in the Qala-i-Fatullah area of the city.

Pictures of the SRSG at the polling station

During the visit, Mr Eide said: “I am pleased to see that so far the elections have been going quite well. I see it and hear it from the across the country that there is a good turnout.”

The UN’s Special Representative for Afghanistan added: “This democracy has to grow up from inside. That’s why I think these elections are very important that these elections are organized by the Afghans. And we in the international community have been completely impartial with regard to who we would like to win these elections. It is so important to demonstrate that, if not, we will not have Afghan institutions that can stand up on their own feet. That is a long way to go.”

People are voting across Afghanistan today in presidential and provincial council elections.

There are an estimated 15 million voters who are choosing their president for the next five years and provincial council members.

The elections have been organized by Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission with the support of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN’s elections project UNDP/ELECT.

As he toured the voting station in Kabul, Mr Eide, who heads UNAMA, stressed that “these elections are important first of all for the Afghan people, really first of all for the Afghan people. Also they demonstrate that the investments we have made over all these years are important. And that this commitment must be long term but based much more on an Afghan leadership and ownership of the entire process.”

Mr Eide has highlighted throughout the election campaign the need for Afghan ownership and he’s emphasised the need for leaders who will take Afghanistan forward.

Today the Special Representative said he hoped to see that “we will have a government of reformed-oriented people who can address major challenges both within the economy, strengthen the institutions and entering some kind of a peace process, but that is of course not only up to the Government.”

By Kangying Guo, UNAMA