Gunmen close vote registration offices

PALESTINIAN gunmen yesterday shut down central Gaza offices registering voters for a parliamentary election due in July, saying they were protesting at losses by the ruling Fatah Party in last week’s municipal ballot.

The action underlined challenges facing President Mahmoud Abbas in his drive to rein in militants and pursue democratic reform, seen by Middle East mediators as essential to launching a peace process between the Palestinians and Israel.

Witnesses said 20 masked militants belonging to Abbas's Fatah movement burst into Central Elections Committee (CEC) premises in central Gaza and closed them "until further notice", ejecting their employees. No violence was reported.