The High Court in Blantyre has reserved its ruling to Friday this week in a case in which five claimants are seeking an injunction to restrain Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) from accepting the national ID as the sole identification for voter registration.
The claimants are challenging the validity of Section 12 of the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Act (PPLGE) and want an injunction, suspending the operation of the section, pending the conclusion of the constitutional matter.
They are George Chipwaila, Geoffrey Banda, Alex Phillip Dimba, James Chitsulo, and Crino Masulani.
Yesterday, Justice Mandala Mambulasa heard submissions from MEC lawyers and those representing the five before reserving his ruling to Friday.
In their submissions, former Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale and private practice lawyer Felix Tambulasi, representing the claimants, said Section 12 of PPLGE Act contradicts Section 77 of the Malawi Constitution which gives all people the right to vote.
He said: “What we are asking is that instead of MEC just registering those that have national IDs, they should open up and consider other forms of identification.”
The claimants filed the application on October 10 2024, saying they failed to obtain national IDs in Blantyre during a registration exercise conducted by the National Registration Bureau (NRB); hence, would not be able to register as voters under current laws.
But in his submission, one of the MEC lawyers David Matumika Banda said he does not see why the court should be compelled to grant an injunction when the five claimants still have an opportunity to go to an NRB centre and register for national IDs before registering as voters.
Chipping in, fellow defence lawyer Attorney General Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda said the claimants have not been turned away from registering as voters since voter registration in Blantyre starts on November 9 2024.
On Section 12 of PPLGE Act not being consistent with the Constitution, the AG argued that the Constitution cannot contain everything and that is why it defers some provisions to other pieces of law.
Said Nyirenda: “What they have presented is an academic case which is not ripe to come before court. When we analyse everything, the balance of justice lies against granting the injunction because we cannot suspend the operation of the law.”
Section 12 of the PPLGE Act 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”.
The proof of eligibility can be in the form of a valid national ID, an expired national ID or a system generated receipt issued by the NRB which shows the national ID number, according to MEC.
The claimants application for injunction was filed after the High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal principal registry on October 9 2024 rejected a move by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to commence a case against MEC on the use of the national ID as the sole document for voter registration.
Meanwhile, voter registration started yesterday in 75 constituencies, 14 councils and 161 wards in Chitipa, Karonga, Karonga Town and Mzuzu City in the North; Nkhotakota, Ntchisi, Salima and Dedza in the Centre; Balaka, Neno, Machinga, Phalombe, Mulanje and Chiradzulu in the South.
The exercise is expected to run up to November 3 2024.
