{"id":68407,"date":"2018-07-17T09:55:54","date_gmt":"2018-07-17T07:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/?p=68407"},"modified":"2018-07-17T09:55:54","modified_gmt":"2018-07-17T07:55:54","slug":"more-challenges-in-voter-registration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/2018\/07\/17\/more-challenges-in-voter-registration\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018More challenges in voter registration\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU, <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A CONTRIBUTOR: <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Malawi Electoral Support Network (Mesn) observation report on the first phase of the voter registration exercise has revealed various challenges that could have a bearing on the outcome of the May 21 2019 Tripartite Elections.<\/p>\n

Mesn has embarked on a long-term observation programme of voter registration and other aspects of the electoral process to identify potential problems to the forthcoming polls with a view to finding a redress to them beforehand.<\/p>\n

The network, which conducted the study with financial assistance from United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (Osisa), found that a number of centres in Kasungu were not accessible to persons with disabilities.<\/p>\n

It also found that political party monitors shunned the registration exercise, which demonstrated lack of seriousness among political stakeholders.<\/p>\n

The report adds that, in 34 of the voter registration centres, Mesn observers recorded instances of malfunctioning of equipment.<\/p>\n

Some centres had machines on and off due to weather conditions since this is the winter season and the machines are solar powered.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn other circumstances, the officers called for back-up generators and the work resumed. However, some generators had no fuel and this meant registrants had to wait for some hours before being registered,\u201d the report reads in part.<\/p>\n

The report further says there was also general absence of security agents and police personnel in a number of registration centres, which posed a security threat to registration staff as well as the equipment.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome centres did not have police officers for some days while other centres had no security personnel in the entire process. For instance, in Kasungu North West at Chisuwe Primary School, there was no security agent from the day the registration centre opened on 26th June until 4th July and Chatete and Chang\u2019ombe primary schools had no police officers throughout the registration phase,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n

However, Mesn says the atmosphere was generally calm, peaceful and accommodative and eligible voters were able to go and register without fear of intimidation.<\/p>\n

Mesn Chairperson, Steve Duwa, Monday recommended that Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec), political parties and accredited service providers should enhance civic education and sensitisation on voter registration.<\/p>\n

Duwa also said Mec should ensure that police or security agents are always available at all voter registration centres.<\/p>\n

\u201cMec should always provide fuel for all generators, encourage gender equality in all recruitment processes of Mec while National Registration Bureau staff should be available in all voter registration centres,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mec Chairperson, Jane Ansah, said recently that the commission is addressing all the challenges observed in the first phase to ensure smooth implementation of the electoral process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU, A CONTRIBUTOR: Malawi Electoral Support Network (Mesn) observation report on the first phase of the voter registration exercise has revealed various challenges that could have a bearing on the outcome of the May 21 2019 Tripartite Elections. Mesn has embarked on a long-term observation programme of voter registration and other aspects of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":68411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68407"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68412,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68407\/revisions\/68412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}