Tanzania’s electoral commission on Monday began to register voters through the biometric voter registration (BVR) system for an upcoming constitutional referendum. “Registration starts today at Njombe region and we are going to carry the activity for seven days before moving to another region,” Damian Lubuva, chief of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), told The Anadolu Agency by phone. Lubuva said the electoral body has faced some challenges while implementing the exercise. “BVR kits we are using sometimes fail to work as it was expected,” he said. “Our experts are on the field making sure all are going well as planned.”
The registration exercise was originally scheduled to start in late 2014, but was delayed due to the government’s failure to provide the electoral body with the necessary funding. While the country needs more than 8,000 BVR kits to carry on the exercise, NEC has received only 250 kits so far.
Lubuva said the electoral commission expects to receive more than 7,750 BVR kits early next month. “The government has paid all the money needed to the people who are supposed to bring these kits. We are just waiting for delivery,” he said.
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