MEC suspends registration

Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has postponed voter registration planned to start this September and instead said a new date will be announced in due course.

The electoral body told stakeholders in Lilongwe yesterday that the change is meant to pave the way for a pilot registration exercise to test equipment. The pilot run was scheduled for this month, but has also been shifted to an unknown date.

Presenting an update to the National Election Consultative Forum (Necof) on the status of electoral processes in preparation for the September 16 2025 General Elections, MEC chairperson Justice Annabel Mtalimanja said  the pilot exercise will take place in both urban and rural areas.

She said: “The commission plans to conduct a pilot voter registration in selected sites across the country before the official voter registration begins. This pilot will take place in both rural and urban areas, covering all regions of the country.

“The primary aim is to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the voter registration process, identify and resolve any issues with the devices or system and refine our approach ahead of the actual registration.”

But the announcement attracted murmurs of disbelief and disapproval from some stakeholders who expected the commission to follow its electoral calendar as announced at the launch of the 2025 elections on August 2.

But Mtalimanja, a judge of the High Court of Malawi appointed to the helm of the commission in June this year, assured the gathering that the electoral body will still be within time even after the change of plan.

She said: “By law, the commission is required to begin voter registration on or after 16th September 2024 and it must be completed at least 60 days before the polling day on 16th September 2025. This, therefore, allows voter registration to continue until 17th July 2025.

“The commission is committed to ensuring the integrity of the voter registration process and the voters’ register and is taking all necessary steps to achieve a smooth and effective registration process.”

According to MEC, the pilot registration will take place in 100 centres in eight selected councils and will run from 8am to 2pm, but will not count as registration for elections and that participants will be informed of the same.

The selected districts are Chitipa, Dedza, Balaka, Neno and Nsanje while the cities under focus are Mzuzu, Lilongwe and Blantyre.

Mtalimanja said the selection of the areas considered a variety of issues, including council type (city/district), weather (hot or cold), mobile network availability and regional representation.

She said the pilot exercise is designed to test the devices confirm their usability and gather “insights before the full scale voter registration”.

But in his contribution, Blantyre City Central parliamentarian Chipiliro Mpinganjira (Democratic Progressive Party) wondered if MEC was indeed ready to deliver a credible election. The lawmaker drew the electoral body to the February 3 2020 Constitutional Court judgement in the 2019 presidential elections case which mandates MEC to deliver a credible election.

United Democratic Front secretary general Kandi Padambo said he was particularly worried that MEC has not come out clearly on the actual number of targeted registered voters. He said this is crucial information at the material time.

Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace national coordinator Boniface Chibwana said MEC needs to make a decision on dates for both pilot and actual registration as soon as possible to allow accredited civil society organisations for voter education to begin their work on time.

MEC is expected to partner the National Registration Bureau (NRB) in the administration of the 2025 polls.

NRB has a crucial task to identify voters and its readiness and capacity came under serious question.

During the Necof meeting yesterday, the bureau received at least 43 questions which mostly bordered on its capacity and readiness to partner the electoral body in this exercise.

While NRB was emphatic on its readiness, it was clear some, if not many, stakeholders are still skeptical.

MEC has transitioned from Biometric Voter Registration Kits (BVRKs) to Election Management Devices (EMDs) which will handle various aspects of the election, including voter registration, voter transfers, inspection of the voters’ register and results management.

This is the first Necof meeting convened since September 11 2020.

The Necof includes all relevant stakeholders in an election from political parties to civil society organisations. It is an accountability platform where stakeholders get updates from duty bearers and also ask questions.

The 2025 elections is likely to be even more tedious after MEC increased the number of constituencies from 193 to 229.