The recompilation of the electoral register using the new biometric technology is said to be paying off. Two weeks into the new method of registration, the number of voters registering is said to have outpaced expectation.
Initially, about 50 people were expected to register every day. But the reform which is gaining enthusiasm, more than 100 people register each day across individual centres in the regional headquarters. Thomas Ejake Mbonda, member of the Electoral Board of elections management body, Elections Cameroon (ELECAM), disclosed in Douala October 18.
Instead of the five minutes expected to get one person to register, he said, in most centres it takes just three minutes. He said the exercise would record exceptional successes if political parties, the civil society, religious bodies as well as the general public get involved.
The ELECAM staff came to listen to suggestions from the public, make an assessment of the on-going registration, as well as mobilise the population to register. He urged all who matter to help advance the course of the recompilation of the electoral register. Following the exchanges, the participants which included mostly members of the civil society, political parties, disabled persons, made suggestions such as setting up registration centres in councils, organising periodic mobile or proximity registration, the need to establish clear statistics and check multiple registrations. Mbonda assured them that ELECAM is however currently considering most of the proposals that were made.
