URUZGAN - On Sunday, hundreds of protestors forcibly closed a voter registration centre in the Gizab district of central Uruzgan province.

Up to 600 demonstrators took to the streets in the district at 9am, chanting slogans against the Independent Election Commission's (IEC) that criticized the Independent Election Commission for poor planning.

One protester, Malik Rahmatullah, told Pajhwok News that voters from the district, which government forces retook from the Taliban after a decade, had been registered in Daikundi province. Another demonstrator said the IEC had devised a conspiracy to deny district residents the ability to register to vote. He asked why voters from Gizab had been included in another province. Other protesters said they would close schools until they were able to obtain voter registration cards.

Juma Khan, an official at the IEC’s office in nearby Daikundi, said that the Gizab office was overrun by hundreds of protestors who smashed equipment and furniture. Khan said the Gizab office had been temporarily closed and people's complaints have been conveyed to the head office in Kabul.

On Saturday, the IEC announced the launch of the second phase of the voter registration campaign, which will be carried out at hundreds of centres at the district and village level. The registration is occurring in anticipation of the April 2014 presidential and subsequent provincial council elections. The registration drive will go on until two weeks before the election.

Source: Pajwok News