B’desh to ask donors for $35 mln to fund voter list

BANGLADESH: Bangladesh will seek some 2.4 billion taka ($35 million) from donors to create a voters’ register with photographs for elections to be held before the end of 2008, a top official said.

An existing list has more than 12 million false or duplicate names, according to the U.S.-based election monitor, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. “We will seek 60 percent of an estimated cost of 4.0 billion taka for making the voters’ list,” Chief Election Commissioner A.T.M. Shamsul Huda told reporters.

An election set for Jan. 22 this year was postponed following widespread political violence that left 45 people dead and hundreds injured.

Dhaka, Monday, Reuters