The Electoral Commission (EC) has emphasised on the need to ensure that every eligible person is given an opportunity to exercise the right to vote by registering their names from July this year.
Electoral commissioner the Reverend Allan Chiphiko said this at Sunbird Nkopola in Mangochi last week at the end of a week-long training on the Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections (Bridge) for commissioners and staff on voter registration module.
He said the electoral register is the bedrock for democracy; hence, the EC putting up adequate and efficient systems, and infrastructure for people to register.
Said Chiphiko: “Each eligible voter has to register regardless of where they are staying as long as it is within the borders of Malawi. As an electoral body, we shall put up processes that will facilitate the registration of everyone including those with special needs.
“The coming [2014] tripartite election will be a highly contested one and there is high expectation for EC to do a professional job starting with registration of voters.”
GIZ in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC) and Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (Idea) funded the training.
