Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim

Colleagues,

Honourable Chief Election Commissioner,

The Chief of Army Staff and the UN Resident Coordinator,

Excellencies and distinguished guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Assalamu Alaikum.

I am delighted to be here with you this afternoon to celebrate the completion of computerised voter registration in the country. It is a memorable day; it is truly a day for celebration, celebrating the completion of an error-free voters’ list – a major milestone toward a free and fair election. This has been a mammoth task as well as a landmark achievement. I do not know of any other country in the world which has created this kind of voter list in such a short span of time. It is a happy occasion for all the citizens who look forward to a free, fair and credible election in December this year and the nation can rightly take pride in this success. Let me just say “thank your all very much” to all those who helped to make it happen.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As you know, the demand for an error-free voters’ list with photograph was widespread, almost universal. The present voter list, I gather, contains 80 million 500 thousand 723 voters, and is considered to be almost error-free. The reason for this success lies partly in the technology employed. This has been a feat of international standard executed by our home-grown, trained manpower. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks and congratulations to everybody involved in the process, including those from the Election Commission, the civil administration, the armed forces, and last but not least the voting age citizens of our country, without whose enthusiastic participation, it would not have been possible to register 80.5 million voters by using a completely new technology.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The reconstituted Election Commission had decided at the very outset that voters’ list with photograph would be prepared afresh. In order to implement the new initiative, technological feasibility had to be assessed along with human resource requirements. A pilot project was then launched in Sreepur with the help of Bangladesh Army in June 2007. The Army, which had gained valuable experience while carrying out UN peacekeeping operations abroad, demonstrated courage and competence in executing this project. I remember that at the time of Sreepur pilot project, there were many who doubted whether the new process – asking the voters to come to the registration centres to be photographed and registered, using a new computer-based technology and training a large pool of young men and women in this technology – would succeed and accomplished. The success of the Sreepur pilot initiative meant that the EC did not have to look back from that point. The EC also received wholehearted support from many of our development partners in this endeavour. The preparation of electoral rolls with photographs project was then approved within a record time. The EC did not waste any time and started its work even before official approval, which showed its commitment and tenacity of purpose.

The Bangladesh Army implemented the technical task with military precision naming it ‘Naba Jatra’ or a new journey. They went to places which were not easily accessible to include hard-to-reach people in the voters’ list. People with disabilities were registered by visiting their homesteads. The UNDP provided critical inputs to project implementation and rendered valuable administrative assistance when the project faced different problems including procurement problems. The project also received assistance from the European Union, DFID, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the Republic of Korea. The project was approved in August 2007 and was finished on 9 July 2008 within a period of 11 months. It is by all accounts an incredible achievement.

As usual, the election officials as well as many employees of different government agencies including teachers were inducted for preparation of the voters’ list. More than three hundred thousand of them had to be trained, and these trained workers visited the dwelling places of voters sometimes a number of times. More than one hundred thousand data entry operators were also trained by Bangladesh Army. The EC asked local representatives to verify the identity of people coming to the registration centres. The services of the NGO community were also utilised for motivating people to visit registration centres. The local religious leaders like Imams of mosques also lent their support. Finally, the whole nation participated in this exercise spontaneously and therefore a large part of the credit as well as successful culmination of the project.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As you know, ICT is not widely dispersed in the country and necessary infrastructures are also not present everywhere. But overall, the success of voter registration project implies that these problems have been overcome. The system created a database of the voting age population, which facilitated the issuance of National ID Cards. A good data-base for facilitating e-governance has also been developed in the process. ID cards would certainly be a source of empowerment for the common people of Bangladesh.

Distinguished Guests,

I would like to draw your attention to what lies ahead. As you know, the Election Commission is striving to follow the roadmap it declared back in July 2007. The roadmap contained a number of activities including local and national elections. The EC also conducted two rounds of discussions with 16 political parties and alliances on electoral reforms and was able to secure agreements from them on many important issues, the details of which are now available in a report published recently. The EC also held talks with the professionals and members of the civil society on its reform initiatives.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to thank the Election Commission for sticking to its electoral roadmap and finishing the countrywide voter registration programme on time. We look forward to an election which will not only be free, fair and credible but also set a high standard for future elections as well. We look forward to the day when, through this elction, there will be a successful transition to sustainable democracy and sustained good governance.

Thank you all, ladies and gentlemen.

Allah Hafez.