Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has allayed fears of voter disenfranchisement in the forthcoming September 16 2025 General Election.
This follows reports that some registered voters’ names in the preliminary voters’ register in some centres were missing when they wanted to transfer in the third and final phase of the voter transfer process which ended yesterday.
MEC director of media and public relations Sangwani Mwafulirwa, in a statement on Friday, said registered voters should not be worried with the situation considering the register is preliminary and that other subsequent processes will rectify anomalies.
He said: “The commission wishes to emphasise that the voter registration data remains preliminary until it has been provided to voters, political parties, candidates, civil society organisations and other observers for inspection for purposes of verifying all entries in the voters’ register.
“Inspection and verification is the next activity in the electoral calendar. Therefore, the commission assures the public there is no cause for alarm as the inspection and verification stage is to addresses cases like this.” Mwafulirwa said MEC will ensure that the final register contains all registered names and details remain intact.
He further said individuals whose names are missing, but presented themselves to transfer their records will be assisted in due course.
Mwafulirwa further said MEC remains committed to transparency, credibility and excellence in managing the electoral process and will, therefore, continue providing updates on the progress made in the quality control process.
“Further, the commission undertakes to hold a meeting with stakeholders, including political parties to update them before the commencement of the inspection of the voters’ register.
“We call upon political parties, civil society organisations and the general public to remain engaged in the electoral processes and support the commission in ensuring that elections are conducted in a free, fair and credible manner,” he said.
During the third and final phase of the voter transfer process which ended yesterday, some voters were unable to find their names in the preliminary voters’ register.
The third phase of the voter transfer process, which began on March 13 2025, targeted councils of M’mbelwa, Lilongwe, Lilongwe City, Mangochi, Mangochi Municipality, Mwanza, Chikwawa and Nsanje.
The aim of the exercise was to process the transfer of voters to other registration centres in the area where voters have moved to, or are anticipating moving to by virtue of residence, employment or business.
On February 21 2025, MEC chairperson Annabel Mtalimanja, who is also a Judge at the High Court of Malawi, said at a media briefing in Lilongwe that the voter transfer exercise would be based on the same criteria under Section 8 (1) of the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Act.
“This means a voter may only transfer to a place where he or she would have been eligible to register by virtue of the reasons of residence, place of birth, business or employment. Voters will not be allowed to transfer will-nilly to places where they do not satisfy any of these criteria”.
The first phase of the voter transfer process started on February 24 2025 and ended on February 27 2025 while the second phase ran between March 5 2025 and March 7 2025.
