INEC starts PVR updating in Mara, Simiyu, Manyara

MANYARA: THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday commenced the exercise of registering and verifying information in the Permanent Voter Register (PVR), covering three regions including Mara, Simiyu and parts of Manyara Region.

Additionally, a seven-day exercise, running until September 10, aims to register a total of 491,050 new voters.

This initiative is a continuation of the voter registration update launched by Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa in Kigoma on July 20, this year. The first phase of this update included the regions of Kigoma, Katavi and Tabora.

According to estimates by the commission, based on the 2022 Population and Housing Census, approximately 3,391,017 voters are expected to be included in the Permanent Voter Register for these regions for the 2025 general elections.

However, coupled with this, INEC’s Director of Election, Mr Ramadhan Kailima said that this number might increase.

“This number could rise because there may be Tanzanians who were eligible to be registered as voters during the 2019/20 update but, for various reasons, did not register at that time,” Mr Kailima said.

According to INEC, in some parts of Manyara region including Babati Town Council, Babati District Council, Hanang and Mbulu District Councils, the registration centres are opened from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

He added that the exercise will involve 4,373 centres, which will be used to register new voters and update information for previously registered voters.

However, in this exercise the commission is expected to register more than five million new voters across the country in the register.

Additionally, according to the INEC after the update, the permanent voter’s register is expected to have a total of 34,746,638 voters.

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The updating exercise has started last month with the use of upgraded Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits to ensure smooth operation of the project.

Also, despite the system being digitised, the improved kits have been reduced in weight from 35 to 18 kilogrammes.