The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has assured electoral stakeholders that voting will be done manually as in the past, refuting rumours that electronic gadgets will be used.
MEC chairperson Annabel Mtalimanja was addressing the media in Lilongwe yesterday on the outcome of the voters’ verification exercise and the modalities of nomination fees and submission of nomination papers by aspirants.
“We would like to clarify the misinformation and disinformation insinuating that electronic gadgets will be used during voting. This is not true, voting will be manually,” she said.
Mtalimanja also clarified that the electronic gadgets will only be used for the identification of voters and transmission of the results which will be done simultaneously with the manual transmission.
“We will use biometric voter verification which is fast and efficient. Once a voter has been identified, they will proceed the way they have been voting before. During transmission of results, we will send the results electronically and manually to compare the figures at the end,” she added.
Political parties, especially the opposition and some civil society organisations, including concerned groups, have been accusing MEC of introducing the elections management system (EMS), popularly known as Smartmatic for voting.
In a joint press briefingby the Democratic Progressive Party, United Democratic Front, UTM, Alliance for Democracy and People’s Party pn October 17 2024, the parties alleged that voting through the electronic system would compromise credible election results, citing countries where they claimed the system failed.
“We don’t trust this system because it has failed elsewhere and it’s prone to several abuses. We want MEC to reverse its decision on the use of this system,” alleged Shadreck Namalomba, who was representing all political parties.
The commission also informed the public that payment of nomination fees, collection of nomination forms and submission will start on Tuesday June 10 2025.
“All aspiring candidates for presidential, parliamentary and local government positions are supposed to deposit their fees in full through MEC’s bank account at FDH Bank, no instalments will be allowed,” said Mtalimanja.
On the eligibility of candidates, she said academic qualifications are not a prerequisite as long as a candidate is able to understand and speak the English language for effective deliberations in Parliament and at the council meetings.
Said Mtalimanja: “The laws are clear on what is required for an aspirant at all levels and MEC is following those laws to ensure a fair participation.”
Section 80 of the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local government elections demands that a presidential aspirant should be 35 years and above and a Malawian without any criminal record in the past seven years.
Section 78 states that an aspirant for a parliamentary seat should be aged 21 years and above, conversant with the English language and a registered voter.
Mtalimanja said political parties, which are now identifying their representatives, should carefully examine their eligibility because there will be no chance to replace a candidate once the first one has been rejected for failing to meet MEC’s eligibility criteria.
She said presidential candidates will be required to pay K10 million regardless of gender, male parliamentary aspirants will pay K2.5 million while female aspirants, youths and those with disabilities will pay K1.25 million.
For local government elections, male aspirants will pay K200 000 while females and youth aspirants and aspirants with disabilities will pay K100 000. MEC said all fees are non-refundable for any reason, including death of an aspirant.
According to MEC, aspirants in local government elections are supposed to complete the nomination process between June 10 to 22 2025 while parliamentary and presidential candidates will do the process between June 10 to July 5 2025.
Mtalimanja said names of approved candidates will be published before commencement of the campaign period.
On voter verification, she said the process ended on May 31 2025 and that there has not been any complaints from political parties regarding the voter’s roll.
“Our conclusion, therefore, is that the voter’s roll is alright. On verification, a total of 479 115 people visited verification centres while 605 217 people verified through the online platform which MEC provided.
