The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) on Tuesday met with all 23 registered political parties in Lilongwe to provide an update on the recently concluded voter transfer exercise and preparations for the upcoming voter verification and inspection process.
During the meeting, MEC Chairperson Justice Annabel Mtalimanja announced that a total of 60,761 voters had successfully processed transfers to new polling centres. However, she noted that the Commission encountered a challenge that 19 transfer applications could not be processed due to missing records in the preliminary voters' register.
The MEC Chairperson announced that the records for these 19 names have all been found and added to the voters' register.
To resolve these issues, MEC conducted a data quality assurance exercise to verify the completeness and accuracy of the voter registration data before the voters' register is made available for public inspection.
The results of the exercise showed that 6,288 out of 6,331 registration centres recorded zero variance between the manually compiled voter statistics and the digital database. However, 43 centres recorded a positive variance amounting to 2,563 voter records that had not been uploaded into the system and were therefore omitted from the preliminary register.
The MEC Chairperson announced that the records have since been traced and added to the voters register.
Additionally, MEC assured stakeholders that all Form 1A booklets used for storing duplicate voter registration certificates were accounted for.
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Following a meeting held on April 2, 2025, the Commission resolved to authorize the ICT Directorate to upload the outstanding voter records. As a result, the preliminary total number of valid voter registration records now stands at 7,202,756. This figure remains preliminary subject to change based on the outcome of the voter verification and inspection process.
To accommodate the 19 affected voters whose transfers were not processed, MEC will conduct a targeted voter transfer exercise on April 15, 2025. Those affected will be contacted directly and invited to their intended centres to finalize the process. Political parties will be provided with further details regarding the specific locations where this exercise will take place.
In accordance with the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Act of 2023, MEC also announced that it is preparing for the inspection and verification of the voters' register. The register will be made available to the public to enable voters, political parties, and other stakeholders to verify the entries and ensure accuracy ahead of the elections.
The full speech of the MEC Chairperson for the meeting can be accessed here
