The High Court in Blantyre yesterday rejected an application for an injunction restraining the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) from accepting only national identity (ID) cards as identification for voter registration.
But in his ruling, presiding judge Mandala Mambulasa also directed the National Registration Bureau (NRB) to ensure that it registers eligible voters for IDs in centres where MEC is conducting voter registration.
The five claimants in the case—George Chipwaila, Geoffrey Banda, Alex Phillip Dimba, James Chitsulo, and Crino Masulani—were seeking an injunction to stop the operation of Section 12 of the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Act (PPLGE).
The Act mandates MEC to accept the national ID as the sole identification for voter registration but the claimants argued that it contradicts Section 77 which gives the right to vote to all citizens of Malawi who are aged 18 or above.
Mambulasa agreed with MEC that what Section 12 of PPLGE has done is to require proof of eligibility thereby providing guidance to the commission as it registers voters to ensure integrity of elections.
He said granting the interlocutory order of injunction and opening up to other forms of proofs of eligibility, would be acting contrary to Section 76 (2) (d) of the Constitution which requires MEC to ensure compliance with the Constitution and any Act of Parliament.
According to Mambulasa, even if the injunction were to be granted, neither MEC nor the court would be able to prescribe other forms of proofs of eligibility outside the current legal framework.
Reads part of the ruling: “In addition, the court is enjoined to protect and enforce the Constitution and all laws, unless and until, a duly-constituted court declares a particular law invalid and unconstitutional. At this stage, there is no such declaration of invalidity or unconstitutionality of Section 12 of the Act. In any event, the court cannot do so alone.”
The judge further stated that the claimants and other people who might have faced challenges to register for the national ID in Blantyre still have time to do so as the exercise for the district starts on November 9 2024.
NRB is on record to have said that it has registered 12.5 million people while MEC is targeting to register 10.9 for the 2025 General Elections.
Mambulasa acknowledged that there are more or fewer people who are eligible and willing to vote, but they are unregistered with the NRB.
He directed the NRB to ensure that when persons who are eligible but have no proof of eligibility present themselves at MEC registration centres, they should be assisted to register for ID and given a unique identifier in line with the requirements of Section 12 of PPLGE.
MEC director of legal services David Matumika Banda said in an interview that he would have been surprised if the court had granted the injunction.
“We will engage NRB to put in place measures to ensure that every person who qualifies as a voter should register for national ID,” he said.
On his part, lawyer for the five claimants Felix Tambulasi said they are unlikely to take further action since his clients wanted to be able to vote in the 2025 General Elections.
“The court has assured them that they will be able to vote as they will register with the NRB at the MEC centres,” said Tambulasi.
Meanwhile, UTM publicity secretary Felix Njawala has welcomed the court’s directive, saying this is what opposition parties have been proposing as they could not understand why MEC was failing to operate side by side with NRB.
Said Njawala: “We will have monitors at each registration centre to ensure that NRB is complying with the ruling.”
In an interview, political analyst Wonderful Mkhutche welcomed the ruling saying both the national ID and voter registration are important and they need to be done at the same time.
Section 12 of the PPLGE states that a person who is eligible to be registered as a voter in an election shall, as proof of eligibility, present in person to a registration officer, proof of his or her national registration issued by the National Registration Bureau.
Currently, the first phase of voter registration is being conducted in 14 councils across the country and the exercise is expected to run up to November 3 2024.
