The partial voter registration in Burundi that had been announced for March 17 has been postponed to March 21 and will run up to March 23, the chairman of the country’s National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) said Friday. 
“The partial voter registration for Burundian citizens with the voting age (18 years and above) who were unable to register from Nov. 24 to Dec. 12 last year for various reasons will take place between March 21 and March 23,” National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) Chairman Pierre Claver Ndayicariye told electoral stakeholders in a meeting.
According to Ndayicariye, the operation that targets less than 10 percent of Burundian citizens was postponed because the computerization of names of voters that had registered between Nov. 24 to Dec. 12 last year had taken longer than expected.
Ndayicariye indicated that the publication of electoral lists has also been postponed.
“The publication of electoral lists will take place as of March 16 and the verification of names on the electoral lists at the registration stations nationwide will run until March 20,” said Ndayicariye.
The publication of electoral lists had initially been planned between March 12 and March 16.
The partial voter registration targets Burundian citizens who were for instance hospitalized or abroad on a working visit, or else did not have an identity card during the voter registration period that ran from Nov. 24 to Dec. 12, 2014.
Ndayicariye indicated that there were some irregularities that were “discovered” during the computerization of voters’ names.
He said that 11,571 names lacked “required information” like the birth date or “erroneous” year of birth like a voter born in 2014.
“At least 5,262 voters’ names were registered more than once,” said Ndayicariye.
He added that in total about 3.69 million voters registered for the upcoming general elections to be held between May and September, with the presidential election due on June 26. Enditem
Source: Xinhua
