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The Malawi Electoral Commission (EC) said on Sunday the registration exercise for the May 18 general elections starts on Monday from 8 AM and will go on up to January 18.
EC spokesman Fegus Lipenga said the exercise will be conducted from 8 AM to 4 PM everyday within the registration period all over the country.
And EC chair James Kalaile said in a statement that the registration exercise is in four parts, namely registration of new voters, verification of entries in the voters’ roll, processing of transfers and removal of deceased voters from the voters’ roll.
He said Malawians who will have attained the age of 18 on the date of application for registration will be eligible to register and that non-Malawians who have attained the age of 18 and have lived in the country for seven years or more will also be eligible to register.
Kalaile said people can register where they work or carry out their business enterprises, at a centre nearest to their village or at a centre nearest to their places of residence.
The EC chair also said those registering “must remember to carry with them an identity document” which may be a marriage certificate, tax certificate, employment identity, employment discharge certificate, birth certificate and driving licence or passport, even those which have expired.
“In the absence of this form of identity, the Commission accepts a written, verbal or visual testimony of the chief, village headman or a registered voter from the area or the registration officer,” said Kalaile.
The Commission also asked all registered voters to visit the centres where they registered to check the correctness of their entries in the voters’ roll.
“I should also emphasise that it is possible that a voter’s record could miss completely on the voters’ roll. Such voters will have to be re-registered,” said Kalaile.
He said people will be allowed to transfer and be issued with duplicate certificates and that the Commission is requesting all registered voters to report deceased voters to registration officers.
Kalaile was wary that in the absence of a national identity document the under-aged could register and urged parents, guardians, teachers and the clergy to ensure that this does not happen.
And a state house press statement said President Bakili Muluzi will travel to his Kapoloma Village in the Southern Region district of Machinga where he will register for the elections.
It said Muluzi is appealing to all political, religious, traditional and civil society leaders to take a leading role and continuously preach that one way of consolidating democracy is for every citizen who has attained the age of 18 to go and vote in the elections.
Meanwhile, the EC was scheduled to launch the registration exercise on Sunday night with the switching on of electrical lights at the Chichiri Shopping Mall in the commercial capital Blantyre. ,
The Malawi Electoral Commission (EC) said on Sunday the registration exercise for the May 18 general elections starts on Monday from 8 AM and will go on up to January 18.
EC spokesman Fegus Lipenga said the exercise will be conducted from 8 AM to 4 PM everyday within the registration period all over the country.
And EC chair James Kalaile said in a statement that the registration exercise is in four parts, namely registration of new voters, verification of entries in the voters’ roll, processing of transfers and removal of deceased voters from the voters’ roll.
He said Malawians who will have attained the age of 18 on the date of application for registration will be eligible to register and that non-Malawians who have attained the age of 18 and have lived in the country for seven years or more will also be eligible to register.
Kalaile said people can register where they work or carry out their business enterprises, at a centre nearest to their village or at a centre nearest to their places of residence.
The EC chair also said those registering “must remember to carry with them an identity document” which may be a marriage certificate, tax certificate, employment identity, employment discharge certificate, birth certificate and driving licence or passport, even those which have expired.
“In the absence of this form of identity, the Commission accepts a written, verbal or visual testimony of the chief, village headman or a registered voter from the area or the registration officer,” said Kalaile.
The Commission also asked all registered voters to visit the centres where they registered to check the correctness of their entries in the voters’ roll.
“I should also emphasise that it is possible that a voter’s record could miss completely on the voters’ roll. Such voters will have to be re-registered,” said Kalaile.
He said people will be allowed to transfer and be issued with duplicate certificates and that the Commission is requesting all registered voters to report deceased voters to registration officers.
Kalaile was wary that in the absence of a national identity document the under-aged could register and urged parents, guardians, teachers and the clergy to ensure that this does not happen.
And a state house press statement said President Bakili Muluzi will travel to his Kapoloma Village in the Southern Region district of Machinga where he will register for the elections.
It said Muluzi is appealing to all political, religious, traditional and civil society leaders to take a leading role and continuously preach that one way of consolidating democracy is for every citizen who has attained the age of 18 to go and vote in the elections.
Meanwhile, the EC was scheduled to launch the registration exercise on Sunday night with the switching on of electrical lights at the Chichiri Shopping Mall in the commercial capital Blantyre.
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