The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) and the Malawi Electoral Support Network (MESN) have disagreed with the decision by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to go to court to challenge the electoral that makes national IDs as sole identification in the voter registration process.
The DPP, through its spokesperson Shadrick Namalomba, announced yesterday that their lawyers are ready to challenge the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Act, which prescribes the use of the ID as the only form of identification, which they describe as a bad law
However, in an interview CCJP national coordinator Boniface Chibwana faulted the DPP's move saying the electoral processes should be as consultative and inclusive as possible to ensure that all views from stakeholders are taken on board.
Said Chibwana: "The process went through Parliament and we believe Parliament is a representative institution. Consultations were done before coming up with that piece of legislation.
"It would be prudent to test the system first and if there will be major challenges such that a significant number of people will be disenfranchised, then maybe we can consider other options."
He also said the training sessions that MEC is conducting on the EMDs were a good step towards enhancing efficiency in the process.
Malawi Electoral Support Network coordinator Andrew Kachaso agreed with Chibwana, saying while electoral processes have to be consultative, it would be imprudent to discard voter eligibility criteria before trying it.
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"Any change to this requirement would need to follow a legal process. But it is generally advisable not to introduce or amend laws close to elections to maintain stability and consistency in the electoral process," he said.
Kachaso also observed that if parties who passed electoral laws now seek amendments or alternative identification methods, it suggests that they have identified potential issues or gaps in the legislation that need to be addressed and possibly reviewed for future elections.
In a previous communiqué, Malawi Law Society (MLS) noted that while Section 77 of the Constitution gives all persons a right to vote in any general election, any impediment to the actualisation of this right goes against the tenets of liberal democracy, suggesting disagreement with restricting proof of eligibility to the national ID.
NRB has insisted that every eligible voter, including the 2.2 million potential new voters, will have their national ID cards ahead of voter registration.
