Photo: Collected
The employees of the Election Commission (EC) Secretariat boycotted work and started a sit-in programme in front of the chief election commissioner's room at the EC headquarters this morning (6 March), demanding that the National Identity-related services be kept under the commission. The sit-in comes as part of a scheduled programme they announced yesterday (5 March).
The employees have been protesting the recent decision of the interim government to establish a new independent body named Civil Registration Commission to oversee all citizen registration services, including National Identity (NID) and birth registrations.
A draft ordinance – the Civil Registration (Commission) 2025 – has already been formulated to this end. The initial meeting of an inter-ministerial committee for examining and providing opinions on the draft law took place last Monday (3 March), according to officials familiar with the matter.
According to meeting sources, the commission's functions mentioned in the draft law include overall coordination and development of the existing civil registration system by including birth, death, marriage, divorce, and adoption registration of citizens and determination of the cause of death, migration, healthcare, and education data.
Messenger/JRTarek
