SDLP meet with electoral office over registration fears

The SDLP have met with the Chief Electoral Officer Denis Stanley over fears that many eligible voters have not been included on the electoral register.

Speaking after yesterday's meeting, assembly member Eugene McMenamin described the exchange as "very positive". He added that the electoral office is set to target universities in order to encourage more young people to register.

Mr McMenamin said: "Matters of access to polling stations on election day were also high on the agenda. We called for increased numbers of polling stations and human resources to avoid the delays experienced across the North during the 2001 Westminster elections.

"We are satisfied that the Electoral Office are doing their utmost to ensure that as many people as possible will be legitimately registered to vote," he said.

"We now hope that the general public will cooperate with the office and turn up on election day to exercise their democratic right."

Anyone can find out if they are on the electoral register by contacting the electoral office – and registration can still take place.

As part of the new measures introduced, medical cards are no longer a valid form of identification and political parties are no longer allowed to distribute registration forms. Only electors carrying photographic ID and who are properly registration are eligible to vote.

Sinn Fein has called a "special council meeting" today to discuss what it described as the "shambles" the new anti-fraud measures have created.

Ahead of the meeting, Belfast City councillor Tom Hartley said: "The Electoral Register issued in December 2002 showed that 130,000 people across the North who were on the electoral register in June 2002 were not on this register. If we add to this the fact that recent census figures showed that another 57,683 people eligible to be on the register do not appear.

"At present we are not confident that the Electoral Office can deal with this situation. This is a seriously flawed registration process and a mess of gigantic proportions which needs to be rectified urgently."

(GMcG)