KANDHAR CITY (PAN): More than 150 of the 643 polling centres proposed to be set up in the southern zone, comprising five provinces, will stay closed on Election Day (August 20) for security reasons.

Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) head for the southern zone told Pajhwok Afghan News the 152 polling centres were located in the restive districts of Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan, Zabul and Nimroz.

However, Abdul Waseh Alakozay assured voters could go confidently to the rest of 643 polling centres to exercise their franchise in tomorrow's presidential and provincial council elections.

Nine of the closed centres were in Ghorak and Mianashin districts of Kandahar, the IEC official said, adding: "Uruzgan is the only province in the zone where all polling centres have opened and there is no security problem."

Election materials had been shifted to the centres, said Alakozay, who urged Afghans come out in force and vote in the key polls that he described as the centre of international attention. Voters belonging to the areas where polling centres could not be opened should go to nearby districts to cast ballots, he said.

Gen. Ghulam Ali Wahdat, Maiwand Zone police commander, said Afghan and foreign forces were ready to ensure stringent security arrangement on Election Day. Security personnel deputed at check-posts on the roads to polling stations are conducting patrols to cope with any eventuality.

Spurning militant claim that roads had been closed, Gen. Wahdat asserted security forces' capability of defeating 'the enemies of the country." He called on Afghans to cooperate with the army and police in foiling the insurgents' attempts at disrupting the polls.

Brig. Gen. Sher Muhammad Zazai, commander of the 205^th Military Corps in Kandahar, said Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers had been alerted across the province to ensure smooth conduct of the elections.

During the last couple of days, residents of Dand, Daman and other districts have met on maintaining security on Election Day. Determined to ensure security themselves, they will also cooperate with the authorities concerned.

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