UNDP to provide 50 million dollars for Bangladesh photo voter list

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

Dhaka, Aug 27 (UNI) The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will provide about 50 million dollars to Bangladesh to help prepare a voter list with photographs to facilitate a credible general election scheduled to be held before December 2008.

UNDP today signed an agreement to this effect with the Bangladesh Election Commission (BEC).

Nine development partners, including the European Commission, Department for International Development (DFID), UNDP, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark and Korea, intend to pool contributions worth about 50 million US dollars (approx 345 crore taka) through a UNDP project called 'Preparation of Electoral Roll with Photographs' (PERP), to support the completion of the voter list with photo. The project will be implemented by the BEC.

A UNDP release said the PERP project will help establish the technical infrastructure and other requirements necessary for completing the photo voter list.

This includes funding the ICT equipment, like laptops, webcams and fingerprint scanners, required for completing the nationwide digital voter registration. The project will also establish and strengthen the system necessary to update the photo voter list following the next parliamentary elections.

The BEC, under the overall supervision of the Chief Election Commissioner, is responsible for preparing the voter list with photographs along with other relevant activities.

''A credible and widely acceptable voter list is the foundation for a free and fair election and the support of nine major development partners indicates strong international commitment to assist the government in its effort to secure a peaceful and successful election,'' UNDP Country Director Manoj Basnyat said after the signing ceremony.

The photo voter list will be completed by using a software solution that can electronically record voter information from a registration form, along with digital photographs, fingerprint scans and signatures/thumb prints. To provide an incentive to register, voters will be issued a provisional identity card.

The methodology was developed by the BEC with support from a team of both national and international consultants, who worked in close consultation with the BEC.

UNI

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