If Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) data is anything to go by, Malawians are losing interest in elections with the number of registered voters dwindling over the years.
The data released by MEC chief elections officer Andrew Mpesi on Thursday shows that the number of registrants has gone down to 65.7 percent for the September 16 2025 General Election from 80 percent in the 2019 Tripartite Elections and 93 percent in 2014.
From the projected 10.9 million population of eligible Malawians to vote, MEC only captured 7 200 905 in its database with the majority of them women totalling 4 113 342 against 3 087 563 males.
On the other hand, in 2019, at least 8 525 538 were expected to register, but 6 859 570 did while in 2014, MEC projected to register 8 009 734 voters but ended up registering 7 470 806, which was a 93.2 percent achievement.
During the just-ended supplementary voter registration, the figures were even lower, as out of the expected 271 784 people, only 24 078 registered.
But MEC spokesperson Sangwani Mwafulirwa told The Nation on Wednesday that they were satisfied with the supplementary voter registration exercise because all the centres remained operational throughout the period.
He said: “We cannot speculate the reasons why some who were expected did not show up, but what we can be proud of is that MEC provided the opportunity for people to register and we believe those that have registered are the people that wanted to vote.
“We are gearing up for a massive mass mobilisation campaign that will be in the air and on the ground. We will flood the airwaves and trek to all corners of the country where there is a registered voter to mobilise them to vote.”
Reacting to the data in an interview on Thursday, People’s Party (PP) spokesperson Ackson Kalaile Banda said several factors might have contributed to the scenario, including inadequate awareness.
He said: “It could be due to lack of interest by voters due to high expectations pertaining to promises that leaders make during campaign. This is evident by the time we were mobilising people to go and register, many feigned ignorance.
“Prior to voter registration, we had some rallies across the country to sensitise people of the impending registration. Since elections are just a few months ahead, we have started organising rallies to sensitise them to vote in the coming general election.”
On his part, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesperson Shadric Namalomba blamed MEC for allegedly not putting much effort into the sensitisation of the voter’s registration exercise, but also for switching off its machines at 4pm.
He also said the coming in of the National Registration Bureau (NRB) in the registration exercise made it more difficult for people to acquire the national ID, which allows them to register.
Said Namalomba: “We shall continue sensitising the voters on the dangers of not participating in choosing their leaders. We shall continue sensitising all voters that the only way to move out of the current economic prison we are in is to vote for DPP.”
Section 4 ( 1 2 ) of the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Act states that a person eligible to be registered as a voter in an election needs to have a valid national ID, either expired or valid, or proof of registration issued by NRB which shall act as proof of eligibility.
In his analysis of the situation, governance expert George Chaima said in the face of the current economic mismanagement and political arrogance, it was hard for people to find a good reason to register and vote.
He said: “Political parties must demonstrate that their agenda is not just about politics but to give Malawians a better government and public services.
“They must come up with a new message of hope but not just using the word hope itself in its literal sense.”
Malawians will head to the polls on September 16 this year to elect a President, 229 members of Parliament and 509 ward councillors.
