President Lazarus Chakwera has come under the spotlight for restricting himself to mobilising voters to register in the Central Region, the perceived stronghold of his Malawi Congress Party (MCP), at the expense of other areas.
Responding to The Nation observations after the first phase of voter registration and half way through the second phase, political and governance analysts said in separate interviews that Chakwera should know that he is President of the whole country and not one region.
During the first phase of the voter registration for the September 16 2025 General Elections from October 21 to November 3 2024, the President conducted whistle-stop tours mobilising people to register in Nkhotakota, Ntchisi, Salima and Dedza, all in the Central Region. He did not visit Karonga, Chitipa and Mzuzu in the Northern Region and neither did he do so in Balaka, Machinga, Chiradzulu, Neno, Phalombe and Mulanje in the Southern Region.
Half-way through the second phase ending this Sunday, the President has already been to Mchinji and Dowa in the Central Region, but is yet to do the same in Blantyre, Thyolo and Zomba in the Southern Region as well as Nkhata Bay, Likoma and Rumphi in the Northern Region. Other districts in the second phase are Kasungu and Ntcheu in the Central Region.
In an interview on Sunday, University of Malawi associate professor of political science Boniface Dulani said it was unfortunate that the President, using public resources, has chosen to restrict himself to his stronghold.
He said the President needs to take off his partisan hat and focus on the whole country.
Said Dulani: “He would be better advised to travel to all the districts where currently people are registering and make a case why they should register.”
On her part, political scientist Nandini Patel noted that like in other countries, Chakwera is using the election fever as an opportunity to engage his supporters.
In a separate interview, Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences developmental scholar and governance analyst Andrew Kaponya expressed worry that Chakwera is concentrating the voters’ registration mobilisation campaign in the Central Region.
He said if the President is seen as only encouraging people in the Central Region to register, Malawians will believe that he has forgotten that he is the President of the country.
Said Kaponya: “The President must also encourage people from other regions to register and vote for leaders of their choice in the next year’s general elections. But when he goes there, he should remember to encourage Malawians, not necessarily as MCP president.”
Reacting to the sentiments, MCP publicity secretary Jessie Kabwila said the President has plans to also visit other regions to encourage people to register.
However, she declined to disclose the details of the purported presidential tour in other regions, saying: “This is not something we share with the media, especially when you are dealing with an electoral cycle that has seen his [Chakwera] motorcade been stoned. I think it will be irresponsible to share such information. But we know what we are doing and when to be where.”
The second phase of the voters’ registration exercise rolled out on November 9 2024 and runs up to November 22 in 93 constituencies and 217 wards after the first phase recorded 2 224 307 potential voters against the projected 3 423 066 people, representing about 65 percent registration rate.
To register as a voter, individuals are required to be citizens of Malawi or have resided in the country for at least seven years, be at least 18 years old by polling date and present valid proof of eligibility, notably a valid or expired national identity card issued by the National Registration Bureau (NRB) or a system-generated receipt from NRB containing the unique national ID number.
