Sh39 billion set aside for upgrading voter register

State minister in the Prime Minister’s Office William Lukuvi.PHOTO|FILE 

By Athuman Mtulya and Katare Mbashiru,The Citizen Reporters

In Summary

• At present, official statistics availed by the National Electoral Commission (NEC) show that there are 20 million registered voters.
• The Permanent National Voters Register (PNVR) is for both Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar. The number of registered voters is around half the country’s total population.

State minister in the Prime Minister’s Office William Lukuvi has told a parliamentary committee sitting in Dar es Salaam that the updating exercise to be done in two phases would begin soon


 

Dar es Salaam. The government announced yesterday that it has already disbursed Sh39 billion for updating the Permanent Voters Registrar (PVR) set to start in September this year.

The minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (Policy, Coordination and National Assembly), Mr William Lukuvi, told the Parliamentary Committee for Legal and Administration that the PVR will be updated in two phases.

Mr Lukuvi said the money disbursed was for the first phase.

He also revealed that for upgrading the PVR, NEC is going to employ Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) system.

“The first phase will be conducted from September to December this year, and during the time NEC will register all voters afresh, including those who will be turning 18 before the elections time come October next year.

 

“The second phase is expected to take place from April to August next year, and this will involve those who have lost their voter registration cards or moved from one polling station or constituency to another,” he said.

On Monday, NEC chairman Judge (rtd) Damian Lubuva  without stating the exact date, assured Tanzanians that his office was to update the document soon, and that his office had already started procuring various materials for the purpose.

He insisted that the referendum on the new Constitution as well as next year’s general elections will be carried out using the updated register.

The opposition, led by Chadema, has been pushing for electoral reforms in a bid to ensure that nearly six million new voters get registered ahead of the General Election next year.

Going by the 2012 census, more than one million new voters come on stream each year; it is thus projected that 5.8 million new voters would be eligible to participate in the 2015 elections,.