Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) says it has rectified technical glitches with election management devices (EMDs), a concern raised recently by four political parties.
MEC regional elections manager for the Northern Region Deverson Makwete said this on the sidelines of training for newly-recruited EMD operators in Mzuzu.
He revealed that the voter registration pilot programme exposed EMD challenges such as slowness in taking pictures, indicating that the supplier has adjusted the devices to the desired speed apart from adjusting the equipment selectivity with eyes and skin complexion.
Said Makwete: “Indeed there were challenges. The first being photographing and that has since been resolved. For example, I could not have my photo taken because of my skin.
“It was also difficult to take pictures for bald headed people and those with small eyes like mine. Those issues have been sorted out and will not be experienced again,” he said.
He advised the EMD operators to be impartial and nonpartisan as they execute their job.
“Elections are highly emotive and sensitive. We do not want them to go out there and display partisan behaviour. That will be unacceptable,” he said.
For the first phase of voter registration starting on October 21 to November 3 2024, the EMD operators in the North will be deployed in Chitipa, Karonga and Mzuzu.
Electoral stakeholders recently expressed concerns with the slow performance of the equipment, saying the EMDs take about 10 minutes just to register one person.
UTM Party, Alliance for Democracy (Aford) and United Democratic Front (UDF) also said they were worried that EMDs do not recognise other forms of identification such as a passport, driver’s licence and letter of citizen identification from traditional leaders.
Aford president Enoch Chihana revealed that during the demonstration that MEC conducted, they were not impressed with the EMDs, saying the device should rather be used in future elections.
The UDF also said it engaged MEC on the need for the EMD to recognise other forms of identification apart from the national ID.
MEC chairperson Annabel Mtalimanja is on record as having said the devices only recognise a valid national ID, an expired ID and a system-generated receipt with an ID number as the law stipulates.
