II ~I ~ ~II~ ~~ ~II ~ ~II - IFES

vrn. REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCEA request for technical and material assistance to the electoral process was formulated while theIFES team was in Burundi by the Ministry of Interior (see Appendix K.) This request waspresented to the IFES team and focuses on four areas of assistance:• Training, of the population regarding democracy and participation in elections(in other words, civic education) and of the officials charged with administeringelections. In regard to civic education, the government request notes that theforemost need is for the translation from French into Kirundi of laws andregulations relating to the electoral process. For the training of election officials,the request notes that approximately 7,500 people will need training, and that atraining of trainers program should take place on the application of the ElectoralCode at all levels.• Transport, in the form of vehicles for the National Electoral Commission (18vehicles), the Verification Commission (18 vehicles), the Secretariat of theNational Electoral Commission (5 large and small trucks), and the ProvincialElectoral Commissions (80 vehicles). The total request is for 121 vehicles.• Communication, in the form of two-way radios so that rapid and reliablecommunication between election officials at the national, provincial andcommunal level is assured at the time of elections. The number of radios neededis stated as 200.• Informatics, that is, the computerization of the electors list, the vote count, andother procedures relating to elections, in order to make more precise and rapidthese procedures ...The IFES team offers the following comments on the request for assistance, and on other needsthat were noted by the team during their assessment visit.38