Governance and Human Rights Advocate Undule Mwakasungula has called upon the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) and its accredited civil society organizations (CSOs) to triple their efforts in mobilizing eligible Malawians to register for the 2025 General Elections.
On November 9, 2024, MEC entered into the second phase of the voter registration exercise. In the first phase, the pollster registered a total of 2, 224, 307 people, which targeted fourteen councils, including several districts and city of Mzuzu.
But Mwakasungula lamented that while this is a good starting point, the numbers represent only 65 percent of the projected eligible voters in these areas.
“More concerning is that there is a notable gap between male and female registrations, with 56.7% of the eligible male population registered compared to 72% of eligible females. This low turnout, especially among men, raises concerns and highlights the need to make voter registration more appealing to all eligible Malawians,” he said in a statement issued on Saturday.
Mwakasungula said with second phase on, it is important that MEC, along with all partners, should work to improve the registration rate across the country.
He added that low registration means that many people risk losing their chance to participate in choosing their leaders, which could impact on the country’s democracy.
“A massive nationwide campaign encouraging voter registration should be rolled out to ensure that more Malawians are informed and motivated to register.
MEC should also collaborate closely with accredited civil society organizations, which are well-positioned to extend the voter registration campaign’s reach and promote its message effectively at the grassroots level. Civil society groups have well established connections within communities and are able to mobilize to ensure the message of voter registration reaches a broad audience,” emphasized the celebrated governance and human rights advocate.
However, Mwakasungula has emphasized the need for MEC and the accredited CSOs to have adequate resources to enable them run effective voter mobilization campaigns.
At this point, the revered human rights activist appealed to the donors to provide flexible support to CSOs involved in the electoral process, stressing that strengthening the voter registration campaign requires funding and resources, and donor support towards these activities will be part of their commitment to Malawi’s democratic process.
“It is no secret that an election where citizens cannot fully participate due to not registering does not truly reflect the will of the people. It is therefore important to ensure that every eligible Malawian exercises his or her right to vote by registering. In this way, the election results will genuinely represent the choice of the entire electorate, allowing Malawians to select leaders who will best continue to address their needs,” said Mwakasungula.
