Hundreds of Fijiians turned up at various voter registration centers throughout the Pacific island nation on Tuesday to register for the general elections scheduled in 2014.

The mass Electronic Voter Registration (EVR) started on Tuesday morning across the nation with a population of over 800,000.

Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, along with some 20 top government officials, formally launched the VRC process last Friday.

For the next eight weeks, people living in and around cities and towns of Suva, Samabula, Nausori, Lautoka, Levuka, Labasa and Taveuni will be able to register at more than 1,000 designated EVR Centers.

About 660,000 eligible voters are expected to be registered under the process, which only requires any form of identification papers.

The entire process will take less than three minutes per voter.

Elections Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum on Tuesday visited some of the centers to ensure that everything was on track.

"People are surprised as to how quickly it takes for them to register. I think quite a lot of people are happy that they can now carry a card showing that they are voters," Sayed-Khaiyum said.

However, Permanent Secretary for Elections Mere Vuniwaqa has told the media that there were few glitches at the registration centers but they are confident that these can be ironed out.

The registration, which will last for eight weeks, has been described as "a historic step and a mammoth exercise" for the people of Fiji.

Many people said they were really excited about the new electoral process as they are looking forward to the upcoming election.

Sayed-Khaiyum has promised the nation that adopting the EVR system will add integrity and credibility to the government that gets elected in 2014 general election.

"So whichever government is elected, we know that it has been elected in a fair, just, transparent and honest election."

However, some bloggers have urged the government to allow citizens to voice their opinion on national issues regardless of whether they are former politicians, businessmen, religious leaders or just ordinary citizens.

Some said that the government must stop using preferred media outlets to disseminate information in the spirit of fairness, transparency and good governance because this would only restrict the flow of information to the public.

Fiji was suspended from the Australia and New Zealand-led Pacific Island Forum in 2009 after the constitution was abrogated and elections were not held that year, following the 2006 military coup led by current Prime Minister Bainimarama.

The Pacific Island Forum had imposed sanctions on Fiji's military regime to pressure it to hold a democratic election and return power to an elected civil administration.

In recent years, Fiji has repeatedly promised the international community that it will hold elections in September 2014.