[August 01, 2011] Voter Registration Update to Engage Angolans in Democracy Tweet Luanda, Aug 01, 2011 (Angola Press Agency/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- The nationwide voter registration update that was formally opened Friday in central Huambo province by the local governor, is part of the work that will assure the legality of the coming election and is intended to prove the Angolan people's engagement in democracy in the country. Therefore, the 2012 election, the first since the country adopted its first Constitution of the Republic, will enable Angolans to choose their representatives and inaugurate a new term for the National Assembly (Parliament) members. Going until December 16 this year, the operation will involve National Airforce Helicopters in the transportation of registration brigade members, equipment and logistics into the hard access locations. The Ministry of Territory Administration (MAT), the entity responsible for the registration process, is expected to register about 300,000 new voters during the update of the process, in addition to the existing 8.6 million voters already registered. The exact number of voters who will go to the polls in 2012 will only be known in the early months of next year, when the registering entity completes the clearance of those deceased from the database. In this regard, the deputy minister of Territory Administration for Institutional and Electoral Affairs, Adao de Almeida, said that for this period of the general update of the voter registration, some changes have been made to the technological system. The changes have to do with the renewal of the hardware and introduction of new software to allows the voter to choose the polling station to cast their ballot. According to de Almeida, the technological innovations introduced to allow each system installed on any computer a record of the posts has the central base containing data of eight million and 600 thousand voters already registered throughout the country, with photographs and fingerprints. According to Adao de Almeida, the changes made to the technological system enable each computer installed in any registration post holds the central base that contains all data on the 8.6 million voters registered around the country, with photos and finger prints. The process of update of the voter registration will involve 2,030 agents who will take care of the 164 district registering entities. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]