KABUL, Dec 1: The United Nations has begun registering the first of an estimated 10.5 million Afghans expected to vote in their volatile country’s first free elections next year.

The registration process began in Kandahar on Sunday and was extended to seven other cities, including Kabul, on Monday, said Catarina Fabiansson, spokeswoman for the UN election office in Afghanistan.

All Afghans aged over 18 by June 20, 2004, are qualified to register to elect a national president in the elections, which are due to be held in June next year.

Catarina Fabiansson said the speed of the 78 million dollar registration project would be dictated by the availability of donor funds and by security.

She said most of those to register initially will be the 19,000 district representatives who have the job of electing a Loya Jirga, or Grand Assembly, due to meet from Dec 10 to approve a new constitution. Ordinary people would have the chance to register in the towns of Bamiyan and Herat, and general registration would be extended to other cities.

Ms Fabiansson said the project would be extended to the provinces, then to villages.

—Reuters