Uganda's Electoral Commission (EC) has registered 10.4 million voters for the country's general elections scheduled for next month, a senior official has said

Tom Baruku, commissioner at the EC, was quoted by local press as saying on Friday that out of the 10.4 million voters, about 8 million had received their voters cards.

He said in the July 28, 2005 referendum, the EC had registered 8.5 million voters from the 11.6 million registered for the 2001 presidential elections.

Baruku said that "This is not the final voter number. But in two weeks time after deleting the dead, under age and double registered voters, we shall have the final number," he said.

The EC also increased the number of polling stations from 16, 477 to 19,788 in order to ease access to polling centers and ensure a smooth and orderly electoral process.

According to the commission, each polling center is supposed to have an average of about 700 voters.

Uganda will hold its general elections next month, with the presidential elections scheduled for February 23.

These will the country's first multiparty elections after political parties were banned 20 years ago.

Source: Xinhua