Not with standing the approach of abstracting the voter registry from the civil registry, it
is important that the election administration should remain responsible for generating
the voters lists.
There are several arrangements throughout the world where the public administration
(e.g. Ministry of Interior) produces voters’ lists which are then used by the election
administration. However, such arrangements are problematic. The difficulty lies in the
following question: who is responsible for the quality of voters lists and their impact on
the outcome of an election event? To avoid such issues, it is advisable to have a single
entity in charge of both producing and using voters lists, therefore being responsible for
all outcomes related to their use.
Creating a civil registry on the basis of the voter registry
Whilst still in an experimental phase, it is possible to build a civil register on the basis
of a voters’ register. The figure below exemplifies a structured way of transforming the
electoral register into a civil register over consecutive electoral cycles.
A periodic voters register cannot serve as the basis for building a civil registration system
since it lacks the structure enabling continuous registration of events. However, when it
has been transformed into a fully-fledged permanent voters register the opportunities
are open. Voter registration ought to be compulsory as voluntary registration is not
conducive to complete, current and accurate vital statistics. It should be noted that
the approach is not uniform throughout the country. Compulsory registration can be
coupled with incentives - such as linking the possession of the voters’ card to obtain basic
public administration services such as for example health, attendance to school for ones’
dependants, banking, etc.- to further enhance the reliability of the civil registry to be
constructed. Once continuous voter registration activities are optimally performed, it is
possible to extend the data collection component with recorded vital statistics.
Challenges to the implementation of this process are many and the process needs to be
carried out in a systematic manner to be in the forefront of possible setbacks. First, a wellfunctioning
public administration that supports the continuous voter registration activities
needs to be in place. Moreover, legislation could further support the integrity of the data by
encouraging compulsory registration. Finally, the absence of good coordination between
the different agencies involved (e.g. the EMB and the Ministry of Interior etc.) may result
in the production of different series of vital statistics which are inconsistent. Coordination
needs to take place at two levels: the data-collection level and the data processing level.
Case Study: From voter registration to civil register in DRC
Recently, in the DRC, as mandated by law, voter registration was successfully conducted in 2005-2006. It has resulted in a single
comprehensive file containing demographic and biometric data (portrait and two index fingers) of about 25 million inhabitants from
a population estimated to be 65 million inhabitants. Given a relative young population in the country, it is assumed that 38.46% of
the population captured by the electoral register represents above 80% of the adult population. Therefore, the electoral register is
currently used as the national identification file. In order to obtain a passport, the single document to be presented is the electoral
card, making the electoral card not only a de facto national identification document but enabling the electoral register to play the role
of a civil registration system. However, this approach has its limits and disadvantages. For instance:
- Electoral cards are not replaced on demand, but at specific periods
- Electoral cards are not issued when the individual reaches 18 years, but only in preparation for elections. Therefore,
during a long period, many citizens are not allowed to obtain national identification documents
- The municipal and territorial administrations still maintain parallel registers of population including a civil registration system recording vital statistics. Although incomplete, confusion exists on the validity of civil documents. In addition, several models of civil documents exist concurrently; some have security features, such as those issued in Kinshasa, while others remain type written or even hand written.
