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| National |
| Electoral Commission to register 5 million voters,Electoral Commission to register 5 million voters |
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by
Dennis Mzembe,Dennis Mzembe, 05 January 2004
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16:43:42
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The Electoral Commission has said it expects to have up to a total of about 5 million eligible voters registered for the May 18 general elections. Over 300,000 are expected to register for the first time, chairperson James Kalaile said Sunday night.
He made the remarks at Le Meridien Mount Soche Hotel in the commercial capital Blantyre soon after switching on street lights at the Chichiri roundabout to officially launch this year’s voters registration exercise which runs up to January 18.
He said voter apathy is not anticipated during the coming elections because “Malawians are very good at turning up for general elections”.
“You don’t expect voter apathy. Not in Malawi. In 1994 we had a good turnout, in 1999 we had a good turnout. Last time we had 90% of registered voters turning up,” Kalaile said.
While the commission does not anticipate a lot of problems during registration, the cleaning up of the computerised voters roll would present some hurdles when updating it, he said.
Kalaile also said the commission is yet to decide on whether to introduce mobile voting or not because of capacity problems.
“We have been considering introducing mobile voting but that depends on whether we have the capacity like vehicles and money. Once we have got that we shall go back to the institutions like the ministry responsible for physical disabilities and NGOs and explain to them what we are considering. If they say no we can’t have it, then we won’t have it. We are not implementing it, we are only considering it,” Kalaile said.
Kalaile also said the commission has now been able to source enough cameras to cater for the elections with some being reserved for backup purposes.
The commission is urging all eligible voters to visit registration centres during this period.
“I would like to remind the public that it is a right and civic duty of every eligible citizen to present himself or herself for registration as a voter from 6-18 January and to verify with the commission that he or she has registered and to request that any error or commission with respect to his/her registration be corrected before May 2004,” he said.,
The Electoral Commission has said it expects to have up to a total of about 5 million eligible voters registered for the May 18 general elections. Over 300,000 are expected to register for the first time, chairperson James Kalaile said Sunday night.
He made the remarks at Le Meridien Mount Soche Hotel in the commercial capital Blantyre soon after switching on street lights at the Chichiri roundabout to officially launch this year’s voters registration exercise which runs up to January 18.
He said voter apathy is not anticipated during the coming elections because “Malawians are very good at turning up for general elections”.
“You don’t expect voter apathy. Not in Malawi. In 1994 we had a good turnout, in 1999 we had a good turnout. Last time we had 90% of registered voters turning up,” Kalaile said.
While the commission does not anticipate a lot of problems during registration, the cleaning up of the computerised voters roll would present some hurdles when updating it, he said.
Kalaile also said the commission is yet to decide on whether to introduce mobile voting or not because of capacity problems.
“We have been considering introducing mobile voting but that depends on whether we have the capacity like vehicles and money. Once we have got that we shall go back to the institutions like the ministry responsible for physical disabilities and NGOs and explain to them what we are considering. If they say no we can’t have it, then we won’t have it. We are not implementing it, we are only considering it,” Kalaile said.
Kalaile also said the commission has now been able to source enough cameras to cater for the elections with some being reserved for backup purposes.
The commission is urging all eligible voters to visit registration centres during this period.
“I would like to remind the public that it is a right and civic duty of every eligible citizen to present himself or herself for registration as a voter from 6-18 January and to verify with the commission that he or she has registered and to request that any error or commission with respect to his/her registration be corrected before May 2004,” he said. |
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