The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The electronic photo voter list, which will be used for December 29 polls to check vote fraud, got excellent rating from an international audit team.

An independent audit of the computerised voter list conducted by Washington-based International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), consisted of two nationwide surveys sampling nearly 17,000 individuals of voting age across the country.

It concluded that the list was compiled with a "high degree of accuracy." It also verified that "no 'ghost voters' were found on the 2008 photo voters list."

The audit concluded that all names on the roll are legitimate voters and nearly all-eligible voters are on the list, says an UNDP media release. This first ever computerised photo voter list in the country contains pictures of more than 80 million voters and it took 11 months to compile.

The new electoral roll was designed by the Election Commission, with support of the Bangladesh Army and financial assistance from Denmark, the European Commission, Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

UNDP also provided technical and logistical support for the creation of the unprecedented voter roll. Preparation for the digital voter list required over 10,000 laptops, digital cameras and finger print scanners, all aimed at creating a fraud-proof voter roll.

"The upcoming election represents an historic opportunity for Bangladesh in re-establishing democracy. We are pleased that the current voter list has passed the scrutiny of an independent team of auditors because a credible voter list is an essential ingredient for all free and fair elections," says Renata Dessallien, UN Resident Coordinator.

The external audit found that the voter list was geographically uniform, suggesting that the registration process was administered evenly throughout the country. The audit reported that photographs were of good quality and will help ensure that all voters have the opportunity to exercise their voting right in the upcoming election. The audit also found that more than 99 per cent of respondents had confidence in the accuracy of the voter list and gave positive evaluations of the voter registration process. The results indicate that the list meets international standards and is a significant improvement from all previous voter lists.

The audit concluded that "in comparison with assessment of voter lists created during previous voter registration efforts in Bangladesh, the voter list for the December 2008 election has effectively registered the universe of eligible voters in Bangladesh, and accomplished this with a great deal of accuracy in capturing the particulars for individual voters."

The independent audit was designed, supervised and analysed by international election experts from IFES, a leading election assistance organisation working in more than 100 countries. The audit was conducted from September 15 to November 2, 2008, using statistical sampling methods with a ± 1.5 per cent margin of error. The independent external audit was sought by UNDP following the completion of the electronic registration of over 80 million people.