Women voters register their names as part of a pilot project in Gazipur

Bangladesh's election commission says it has completed the registration of voters ahead of December's general election. It says it has recorded the identities, fingerprints and photographs of more than 80 million voters, to ensure the elections will be free and fair. Mark Dummett reports.

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It came to power a year and a half ago, after the last elections were cancelled following months of street violence. The opposition then claimed that the electoral register contained the names of millions of fake voters. So the caretakers, and their backers in the army and international community, decided to tear it up, and start all over again.

The Election Commission now claims that the new register is the most accurate in Bangladesh's history. Military units have painstakingly recorded information on more than 80 million people. This means that the new voters list has about 13 million fewer names on it than the last, discredited one. The election commission also says that new ID cards, which will soon be printed, will make it harder for people to vote twice. The whole process has cost 80 million dollars.

In itself, however, this new register will not guarantee a credible election. There are still doubts over the participation of the main parties, dozens of whose leaders have been jailed for corruption. Also the interim government still governs by emergency rule, with the firm backing of the army. But it says that restrictions on political activities will be lifted before campaigning begins.

Mark Dummett, BBC News, Dhaka

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caretaker government
government that has power for a short period of time until a new one comes in

to reform corrupt institutions
to change organisations where there are problems with dishonest or illegal behaviour

The opposition
the largest political party which does not form the government

electoral register
the official list of people who are allowed to vote

backers
people supporting them

painstakingly
very carefully and thoroughly

discredited
shown to be not officially acceptable

not guarantee a credible election
not mean a free and fair vote would definitely happen

the interim government
the government which has power for a short period of time until a new one comes in (see caretaker government)

campaigning
a series of planned events in support of a politician who is trying to get elected

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