KABUL – Afghanistan will hold its next presidential election on April 20next year, an official with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.

Confirmation of the date comes amid preparations for separate parliamentaryelections due in October which have been beset by technical andorganizational problems as well as accusations of fraud and abuse.

Candidates will not be registered until November, but maneuvering amongpotential contenders and their allies is already under way and PresidentAshraf Ghani himself is widely expected to run for a second five-year term.

The last presidential election in 2014 produced no clear winner afteraccusations of massive electoral fraud by supporters of both Ghani and hisrival, Abdullah Abdullah.