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Mozambique: Over Eight Million Voters Now Registered
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Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
4 March 2008
Posted to the web 4 March 2008
Maputo
With just 11 days to go before the end of the current voter registration exercise, about 8.2 million Mozambican citizens have so far registered and obtained their new voters' cards.
According to Lucas Jose, press officer for the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), the electoral arm of the civil service, the exact number registered to date is 8,182,282.
The first phase of voter registration ran from 24 September to 15 December. After a break for the Xmas and New Year holiday period, registration resumed on 15 January and is scheduled to end on 15 March.
During the first phase about 7.5 million people registered, despite delays in setting up the computerized registration posts in much of the country. During the second phase there have been many fewer complaints about computer breakdowns - presumably because the registration brigade members have gained in experience and are much more confident about handling the digital equipment.
The number of people going to the brigades to register has fallen to a trickle. Jose said he did not understand why - but the obvious reason is that the vast majority of those who are determined to use their right to vote registered during the first phase.
Based on the preliminary results of the August 2007 population census, STAE estimates the total potential electorate at 10.14 million. So far about 80.7 per cent of that target has been reached.
The last time the entire electorate was registered was in 1999. Then slightly fewer than 7.1 million people registered, which was 85 per cent of the estimated potential electorate. To reach 85 per cent this time, STAE will have to register about 8.62 million people - this figure is within grasp, and if achieved will represent a considerable success, since no country in the world ever registers 100 per cent of its total electorate.
Nonetheless Jose insisted that all efforts are being made to meet the target of 10.14 million.
He admitted that the registration in parts of the country ran into serious difficulties due to heavy rains and flooding, particularly in the Zambezi valley. Teams from STAE headquarters and from the National Elections Commission (CNE) have been sent to the provinces to monitor the situation, and see what can be done to pick up the pace in the final days of registration.
"To reverse this trend of poor attendance at the registration posts", said Jose, "we are undertaking a series of activities to raise the awareness of those citizens who have not yet registered".
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Ram/pf (422)
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| Copyright © 2008 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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