To use Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) technology
NEC Chairman retired Judge, Damian Lubuva
Through the BVR technology biological information or behaviours will be collected and stored in a database for identification.
NEC Chairman retired Judge Damian Lubuva told journalists in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the new technology will help to address the challenges such as
double registration, identify voters during elections and transfer voter information from one place to another especially when a person has shifted from where he/she was registered.
Lubuva said the exercise is scheduled to begin between August and September, this year, adding that a total of 298bn/- is expected to be spent on the exercise.
“All voters in the permanent register will be re-registered but the exercise will also include the registration new eligible voters,” he said.
However, the NEC boss said that under the new system, all the registered voters shall be provided with new identity cards rendering the current ones invalid.
He said the Commission is working hard to ensure that the registration is completed in time to allow eligible citizens have IDs which will be used in the referendum for the new Constitution and the 2015 elections.
Lubuva added that the Commission has already conducted verification of registration centres which include villages and streets wards, saying they have increased from 24,919 centres to 40,015 in the country.
“We have decided to increase the centres to streets level to bring the service closer to the people. This will make more people to go for registration and reduce complaints related to the distance from the centres,” he urged.
For his part NEC Director of Elections Julius Mallaba said under the BVR every eligible citizen shall be provided with a hard plastic identification card and the number on it shall be permanent and unique for the respective voter.
Mallaba called on people who have been registered in the Permanent Register to go with their current ID’s to the registration centers to simplify the re-registration process.
Last month the United Nations Development Programme promised to assist Tanzania to upgrade its voter registration system.
The UNDP administrator Helen Clark who was in the country for a three-day tour, said assistance in improving the electoral system was among the issues discussed with the President Jakaya Kikwete.
She said UNDP would ensure that Tanzania used the biometric voter registration system before next year’s General Election.
Opposition parties have been pressing the National Electoral Commission (NEC) to upgrade the permanent voter register because there were millions of qualified Tanzanians who have not been registered.
According to their research more than 5.3 million people cannot vote because the register has not been updated since 2010.
The permanent voters’ register was introduced in 2004 with the use of the Optical Mark Recognition which involved the use of Polaroid camera.
At the time, the biological data included passport size photos and signatures. Thumb prints were added when a digital registration kit was used during its updating in 2009.
For the second time the book was updated in 2009/2010 to register new eligible voters for the 2010 general election.
According to section 15(5) of the National Elections Act of 2010, NEC is required to update the permanent voters’ registration book twice after every general election.
SOURCE:
THE GUARDIAN
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