MAFREL Press Release - SPR’s Electoral Roll almost ‘expired’

PRESS STATEMENT 5TH APRIL 2009

From a Electoral Roll Verification(ERV) exercise conducted in 3 by-election areas Mafrel, an election watch dog accredited by Election Commission(SPR), found that the regularly disputed electoral roll prepared by the SPR has almost reached its `expiry’ date.

The roll fails to provide full address for huge chunk of voters-about 1 in 20; fails to clean up dead voters-leaving about 100 suspected dead voters in each constituency, failed to provide more than half the voters’ house number; fail to sign up about 1/3 of the eligible voters. In so doing, the SPR’s electoral roll provide ample space for vote frauds, including `phantom voters’. I

n view of these long term chronic failures Mafrel call upon the SPR to seriously consider abandoning its inefficient and costly voters registration exercise, and opt for automatic registration based on the more professionally compiled and ready made National Registration Department database. In so doing, SPR can uphold the voting rights of all citizens while, under current depressing economic prospect, create significant saving for the country once and for all.[more]