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Archive - Archive 2004 - July 2013

Electoral body quashes claims of electronic voters’ list in circulation |04 May 2012

“The format is different from the one being used by the Office of the Electoral Commission,” it said in a communiqué yesterday.

The report that an electronic voters’ list was in circulation was in fact one of the key issues addressed in the twelfth session of the Electoral Reform Forum.

A copy of this list was presented last week to the Office of the Electoral Commission by the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), Ralph Volcère.

Confirming that the electronic list did not come from its office, the Electoral Commission noted that the document is in Microsoft Excel format, the names were either misspelled or entered with numerous errors, the date of birth and data is in a different format compared to the one being used by the Office of the Electoral Commission.

The Electoral Commission said that the Electoral Reform Forum is a healthy forum where everybody is welcome to provide comments, views or proposals on issues being discussed.

However, “any issues of allegations should be substantiated by proof and any comments and or feedback should be done in a positive manner”. 

After lengthy deliberations on access to electronic version of voters’ list, the Electoral Commission provided clarifications that political parties are given only hard copies of the certified voters’ register.

It was noted that as the voters’ register was a public document, it was a right for the public to get access to the register.

The forum was informed that this is already being done as voters can access their information from the National Archives, the Office of the Electoral Commission and through its SMS and website service.

There were also lengthy deliberations on voting on one day instead of three, leaving the voters’ register open throughout the year and the names of the under 18 years appearing on the register.

The Electoral Commission is also finalising a series of recommendations on the Public Order Act which will be presented to members of the Electoral Reform Forum for consensus in its thirteenth sitting on Wednesday May 9, 2012. 

These recommendations will later be presented to the President of the Republic.

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