Tanzania estimates voting figures

About 24 million people eligible to vote

Tanzania's Bureau of Statistics has estimated that about 24 million people out of a population of 48,522,230 people are eligible to vote in the coming general elections set for 25 October.

However not all of them may be registered in time because of hitches with the electronic re-registration process. In April the government decided to postpone a referendum on the constitution, originally set for the end of April, because of difficulties with voter re-registration and the distribution of electronic identity cards.

According to recent estimates only about six million people have re-registered under the new system but even fewer have their new electronic ID cards. Most of them are concentrated in the more densely populated areas of the country.

In Arusha, where registration only began on 15 June and should end of 19 July, the demand for the new biometric voting cards is high and the returning office has asked for 60 new biometric voter registration machines to add to the existing 70.