* Malawi Electoral Commission does not compile registration statistics and election results at regional level—says MEC in its statement
* Those wishing to check the current voter registration statistics should visit https://mec.org.mw/2025-voter-registration-statistics/
By Duncan Mlanjira
Editor-in-Chief for Africa Brief online publication, Winston Mwale has added credence to the statement that Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) issued to distance itself to a document that went viral on social media — describing it as fake.
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In its statement, MEC emphasised that the fake statement did not originated from MEC and further encouraged all electoral stakeholders “to disregard it to that extent and stop sharing with others”.
“Malawi Electoral Commission does not compile registration statistics and election results at regional level,” said the statement. “Those wishing to check the current voter registration statistics should visit https://mec.org.mw/2025-voter-registration-statistics/
Thus Mwale went further to analyse the document and came up with the conclusion vindicating MEC, adding credence that MEC has indeed released consolidated preliminary figures of registered voters by district, “but these are explicitly stated to be temporary and subject to further processes”.
He further analyses that MEC’s document is titled ‘2025 General Elections Consolidated Preliminary figures of Registered Voters (following the end of all Phases of Voter Registration Process’ lists registered voter numbers by district, with a total of 7,200,905.
“Crucially, this official document includes a note (NB) at the bottom stating: ‘NB: These figures are preliminary, and will be subjected to cleaning, which may lead to slight changes’”.
He observes that “the key discrepancy lies in the nature of the figures presented. The fabricated press release falsely claims the figures are ‘FINAL’. However, the official MEC document, which provides a detailed breakdown by district (and notably sums to the exact same total as the fake release), explicitly states that these numbers are ‘PRELIMINARY’ and will undergo a ‘cleaning’ process that ‘may lead to slight changes’.
“This ‘cleaning’ process is a standard electoral procedure where the voter roll is scrutinised to remove duplicates, deceased persons, or other inaccuracies to ensure the final voter register is as accurate as possible.
“The fact that the total number of registered voters (7,200,905) is identical in both documents strongly suggests that the creators of the fake press release likely used the total from the official preliminary list to lend an air of authenticity to their fabricated regional breakdown and ‘final’ status.
Meanwhile, MEC is urging registered voters to patronise their centres to verify their details when the voter verification exercise to be conducted in three phases of three days each, from Monday, May 13-31 from 08h00-16h00 as follows:
(i) Phase 1: from the May 13-15 in councils of Chitipa, Karonga, Karonga Town, Mzuzu City, Nkhotakota, Ntchisi, Salima, Dedza, Machinga, Chiradzulu, Neno, Phalombe, Balaka and Mulanje;
(ii) Phase 2: from May 21-23 in Nkhata Bay, Rumphi, Likoma, Kasungu, Kasungu Municipality, Dowa, Mchinji, Ntcheu, Zomba, Zomba City, Blantyre, Blantyre City, Thyolo and Luchenza;
(iii) Phase 3: from May 29-31 in Mzimba, Lilongwe, Lilongwe City, Mangochi, Mangochi Municipality, Mwanza, Chikwawa, and Nsanje.
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Inspection exercise will be conducted as follows:
i. A registered voter will be expected to go to the centre where he or she registered or transferred to and verify that his or her record is in the voters’ register;
ii. A voter will be expected to present his or her voter registration certificate to a voter inspection and verification officer. This will then be scanned to confirm the voter’s registration.
Alternatively, a voter will present their national identity card for scanning. Where these two documents are not available, a registered voter will confirm their registration by presenting their correct name and date of birth.
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This notwithstanding a printed copy of the voters’ register will also be provided at each voter registration centre.
iii. Where evidence of registration, namely a voter registration certificate, does not yield a confirmation for registration, the case will be recorded, and appropriate forms will be filled at the centre to allow for investigation by MEC.
Voter verification can also be done through phones by dialing *2509# and entering the voter registration number starting with ‘G’ or National Identity number.
The service is free and MEC emphasises that the voter verification exercise is important as it will rectify issues such as spelling errors, mismatching names and facial elements which cannot be corrected on the polling day.
Those who lost their voter registration certificates or identity cards can still participate in the exercise by providing their names and dates of birth.
