All new registrants won’t be added to the voters register for the fresh presidential elections.

By Duncan Mlanjira

Following the ruling of the Supreme Court on May on May 8, that said only those who registered for the May 2019 Tripartite Elections should be the ones to vote for the July 2 fresh presidential election, Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) says new registrants done in the past two phases will not be added to the voters register.

At a meeting with National Elections Consultative Forum (NECOF) held on Wednesday at Sunbird Nkopola in Mangochi, MEC chairperson, Justice Jane Ansah SC says they will also delete from the voters register all voters that registered during the by-elections held in Lilongwe South Constituency, Liwawadzi ward in Balaka and Matenje Ward in Kasungu.

On the allegations and accusations of registration of minors during the past registration exercise, Ansah said MEC met on May 5 and resolved to take steps to address the issues. 

“Particularly, complaints were received from the Democratic Progressive Party and the Malawi Congress party,” she said. “The allegation has been that these minors were told to cheat by falsifying their age, saying that they are about 18 or will turn 18 by June 11, 2020, when they go to register with the National Registration Bureau (NRB). 

“In some instances, it has been reported that the minors were actually ferried to NRB Registration centres by representatives of political parties. The implication was that if they beat the NRB system they could subsequently register with MEC as voters since they will have the documentation identifying them as eligible. 

“While the Commission was weighing on measures to address the allegations, the Supreme Court ruled that the register to be used should be the 2019 one.

“It is the hope of the Commission that this ruling addressed all the queries that stakeholders had regarding registration of minors.”

She added that MEC retains full confidence with the status of the 2019 voters register as it is the most credible voters roll in the history of elections in Malawi. 

“The fact that we shared it with stakeholders should also be a good reason for them also to have confidence with it and they can easily compare if it was tampered with,” she said.

In view of the Supreme Court ruling, Ansah said MEC will proceed with the process of transfers and issue of in the remaining councils, first for phase 3 for five days to May from 15 to 19 for Mzuzu City, Mzimba, Ntchisi, Mchinji, Balaka, Zomba City, Zomba District and Neno.

Then from May 23 to 27 Nkhata Bay, Kasungu District, Kasungu Municipality, Mangochi Town, Mangochi District, Machinga, Chiradzulu and Mwanza.

She also reiterated that MEC shall reopen all centres in councils covered in phase 1 for one day on June 1 for people to go and process transfers because it ended with a day to go. 

“For Blantyre City, where centres were closed prematurely because of violence, the Commission will open centres for three days from 1 to 3 June for people to process transfers and get duplicate certificates.