Nice wants voter registration extended

The National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) Trust has asked the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) to extend registration period, arguing a number of people have been left out due to wrong projected figures.

Nice made the call on Thursday during a press briefing in Mzuzu.

The briefing was aimed at telling the public Nice achievements, after injecting K2 billion (about $5m) in civic and voter education and election monitoring, of which is high registrants turn out beating projected figures of 23 percent more than 2010 Local Government Election figures.

Nice board chairperson Bishop Francis Kaulanda, accompanied by its executive director Ollen Mwalubunju, Nice programmes manger Grey Kalindekafe and Nice regional civic education officer (North) Enoch Chinkhuntha said MEC has to reopen some of the centres, arguing it used wrong projections which have seen a number of people being left out of the registration.

Kaulanda cited Lilongwe which recorded 37 percent plus increment and said there are also other areas with population boom.

He said with the wrong projections, MEC capacity was low and could not handle the high turnouts forcing a number of people to be sent back without registering. He said the centres also closed leaving out a number of people.

“There are cases where people were sent back home three times without registering and some might have been frustrated and did not go to register. By not being registered, these people’s right to vote and put leaders of their choice in power are being violated,” said Kaulanda.

In his remarks, MEC chief elections officer Willie Kalonga said MEC did not budget for any extension and will not reopen the centres.

“If you talk of leaving out people, it is not the fault of MEC. We registered everyone who came. Registration is voluntary and some people decided to go back home just because they did not want to be on queue.

“So, we cannot reopen the centers just because some people did not want to register. We did not budget for that,” said Kalonga.

Mwalubunju said MEC has to source money from government to register the people left out, arguing that MEC was partly to blame for the people left out.