Civil Society Elections Integrity Forum (CSEIF) assessment shows that 15 percent of registered voters, roughly one million Malawians, have not received any official voter or civic-education messages ahead of Tuesday’s general election. The revelations has raised fears of low voter turnout.
CSEIF’s assessment also found that five percent of eligible voters are relying solely on informal, peer-to-peer channels for election information.
But Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has allayed the voter apathy fears, stressing they have ensured that registered voters that registered are reached.
Cseif chairperson Benedicto Kondowe last week said accredited organisations commenced the voter and civic education exercise with a deficit of K30 billion. He said this haunted the exercise; hence, a considerable number of voters were not reached.
Fresh Presidential Election. Inset is Kondowe. I Nation
He said less than 20 organisations out of 121 accredited ones managed to mobilise resources for the exercise, but their outr-each was limited.
“Civil society organisations [CSOs] have struggled to conduct voter and civic education. From over 7.2 percent million registered voters, about 80 percent have received some form of civic and voter education,” he said.
“Of that figure, only 55 percent have been adequately reached with comprehensive messages, while 25 percent were only partially engaged. This raises an alarm to us as electoral stakeholders. Funding gaps have dealt us a heavy blow.”
Kondowe said most donors, who have been funding CSOs, have over the years reduced or withdrawn their assistance.
He said this has adversely affected CSOs ahead of the general election—especially in the area of voter and civic education, which anticipates will partly affect credibility of the election.
However, MEC spokesperson Sangwani Mwafulirwa said the commission has worked diligently to reach every registered voter.
“We have deployed media campaigns, community workshops, and mobile outreach teams nationwide. To date, we’ve contacted 80 percent of registered voters directly.
“From our side, we have done our best because we knew the challenges CSOs had in regards to funding; hence, we put in place measures to fill the gap. So, we intensified voter and civic education.
“We also noted that political parties stepped up their efforts to mobilise and educate their members and all who attended their rallies,” said Mwafulirwa
Centre for Multiparty Democracy executive director Boniface Chibwana said in a separate interview that Cseif’s assessment reflects the reality on the ground.
Chibwana said it is, therefore, not surprising that one million voters—which he feared might be more—have not been reached.
He said: “Considering the levels of literacy in Malawi, this is worrying. Through our engagement with electorates, we have seen huge gaps in understanding of Tuesday’s elections.
“Most voters do not even understand the 50-percent-plus-one electoral law that will be used to determine the winner in the presidential election. This alone speaks volumes of the gaps that we have.”
Political Science Association spokesperson Mavuto Bamusi last week described the situation as worrisome, considering that 17 presidential candidates will appear on the ballot which is in itself a headache for voters.
“The challenge is that MEC only accredits institutions, but there is no funding provided. It is dangerous at the moment considering the number of candidates we have in the polls.
“We cannot talk about democracy if people themselves have not been mobilised. We see a possibility of voter apathy and an increase in the number of null and void votes,” he said.
National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) Trust education programmes officer Christopher Naphiyo said the entity has the experience and capacity to conduct voter and civic education.
But Naphiyo acknowledged that a good number of organisations were crippled by lack of funding. He said Nice Trust has strived to fill the particular gap.
“Nice Trust has 30 district offices with civic and voter education professionals and a network of more than 10 000 volunteers distributed across the districts,” said Naphiyo.
“Our outreach activities have reached out to all the 509 wards and 229 constituencies because we have physical presence through a network of volunteers.”
According to MEC data, in the 2019 disputed Tripartite Elections, there were 2.4 million registered voters that did not turn up for voting while in the June 2020 court-sanctioned Fresh Presidential Election, 1.7 million voters did not cast their votes.
