DAR ES SALAAM, Oct. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- The Zanzibar Electoral Commission has announced indefinite postponement of the voters registration to be carried on the Indian Ocean archipelago due to lack of funds and late arrivals of equipment.

    Masauni Yussuf Masauni, chairman of the electoral commission, said that the situation made it difficult to start the registration as scheduled for Nov. 1, local media reported Thursday.

    The voters registration, to serve as part of Tanzania's national voters registration scheme, is calculated to cost Zanzibar 2 billion Tanzanian shillings (2 million US dollars).

    The commission chief said that photo fix, photo cutters and films, that are to be used during the voters registration, are now expected to arrive on Thursday in London from the Netherlands before being transferred to Zanzibar.

    The commission needs at least 50 million shillings (50,000 dollars) to kick off the registration to be carried on the islands scattered along the coast of the east African country.

    Tanzania started its first permanent voters registration earlier in the month as it tuned itself up for next year's general elections.

    The voters registration went underway in the southeast with the Mtwara region, one of the country's 26 province-like administrative areas and is scheduled to spread to other regions later on. The registration process will go on from southern Tanzania to its north.

    The voters registration process had been scheduled to start next Monday in Zanzibar, which is part of the United Republic of Tanzania but has its own administrative and legislative mechanisms.

    Tanzania's National Electoral Commission will compile an official list of voters who will be eligible for the general elections to be held in October next year.

    Tanzania has decided to carry out its permanent voters registration after it conducted a needs assessment in November 2002 and after consultations with various government institutions, Zanzibar Electoral Commission, National Census Office, Commonwealth Secretariat, UNDP, the 13 member states of the Southern African Development Community and Kenya. Enditem