Kinshasa July 2, 2009 - With one month to the end of the revision of the electoral register, the operations are "going well" despite some logistical problems, according to Marie Rose Kambare Kivira, Deputy Rapporteur of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
Since the start of revision operations in the city province of Kinshasa, the IEC has issued some 209,000 new voting cards since 28 June last.
One aspect which the IEC have noted is the weak participation of women, at only 30% of newly registered voters.
"This is principally due to the lack of sensibilisation on the part of non state actors, but the sensibilisaton continues in the churches and we are hoping for a large participation of women in the coming week," explained Ms. Kambare.
The tempo of the revision of the electoral register has started to gather pace following some logistical problems in certain registering centres.
"We have proceeded to replace some ink printer cartridges which were faulty. Initially there was some tardiness in the operations because of lack of information on the part of the newly registered, who for example did not know their ethnic group or other information which is required to obtain their new cards," Ms. Kambare added.
The revision of the electoral register, which concludes on 2 August 2009 in Kinshasa, is considered as the first step on the way to the local, urban and municipal elections. For the rest of the country, the same operation will then proceed during the following two months.