Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Sen. Hon. Ryan Pinder led debate on the Parliamentary Elections Amendment Bill in the Senate on Wednesday.
The bill will, among other things, create the legal framework for the introduction of biometric voter’s card and the biometric elections register. Pinder said, “we envision that this system will complete and rolled out and biometric cards and a digital registration system will be in place as of January of 2026. I think it’s important to note that approximately 80% of the registered voters have an e-passport which contains the biometric data of your photograph and fingerprints of the passport holders.”
According to the Attorney General the proposed amendments to the bill will allow the Parliamentary Registration Department adequate time to prepare for the advance poll and general election. He said, “consequently the Parliamentary Registration Department has been challenged to facilitate the conduct of these elections in the mandated timeframe. In fact, they will tell you that its not the actually internal mechanics of the department that’s the challenge its some of the physical challenges such as printing the ballots.”
It is expected that the Data Protection Act will be enacted before the implementation of the new biometric framework that will address the protection of biometric data.
