MEC to meet MCP leaders
Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) is today scheduled to meet President Lazarus Chakwera and the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) leadership in Mzuzu for a demonstration of election management devices (EMDs).
The meeting is part of the President’s Northern Region tour activities where, among others, he will preside over Mzuzu University graduation on Thursday and the Umthetho Cultural Festival of the Mzimba Ngoni on Saturday.
MEC director of media and public relations Sangwani Mwafulirwa said in an interview yesterday that the meeting’s agenda is to demonstrate and brief Chakwera and MCP on voter registration using the EMDs.
On why MEC has prioritised to first meet MCP leadership and opted for Mzuzu, he said the commission has scheduled meetings with presidents of the 21 registered political parties in the run-up to the September 16 2025 General Election.
Said Mwafulirwa: “We are starting with MCP on July 31 2024 in Mzuzu and then we will have UTM Party and Democratic Progressive Party on August 1 2024 in Lilongwe. On August 5 2024, we are meeting the United Democratic Front in Blantyre.
“We will meet People’s Party on August 6 2024 in Lilongwe while the meeting with Alliance for Democracy comes on August 7 2024 in Lilongwe. The schedule continues with the rest of the parties.”
Presidential press secretary Anthony Kasunda in a written response yesterday said he expected the meeting to take place at the Mzuzu State Lodge.
EMDs are portable state-of-the-art devices which will be used for conducting voter registration, transfer of voters, inspection of the voters’ register, nomination of candidates and management of results.
The gadgets will replace the biometric voter registration kits used in 2019 and 2020 elections.
Despite investing billions in EMDs to transmit ballot results electronically, MEC said last month that it will stick to manual transmission to prevent manipulation.
When receiving the final consignment of the EDMs from China, MEC commissioner Richard Chapweteka said Malawians are yet to embrace electronic ballot results transmission.
“There are trust issues when it comes to elections. We find it difficult for the time being and I don’t think Malawians are ready to accept that,” he said.
Chapweteka hinted that MEC will eventually switch to electronic voter transmission when the public have a better understanding of the system.
MEC will on August 2 this year launch the road to the September 16 2025 General Elections with an outline of a detailed calendar of events.
Registration will be conducted in three phases, each lasting 14 days and that the electoral body will announce the dates for each phase.
