The Malawi Electoral Commission( MEC) has suspended the new voter registration exercise currently going on in some districts of the country.
The suspension is following the ruling of the Supreme Court of Appeal which ordered the Commission to use the 2019 Tripartite elections voters roll.
In a statement released by its Chief Executive Officer, Sam Alfandika, dated 9th May, 2020, the Commission is informing all stakeholders that the new voters registration that took place in phase one and two, have been invalidated and will not be incorporated in the 2019 voters registers as per Supreme court judgement.
The Commission says all persons who registered in the May 2019 elections who have changed places of residence are advised to go and process transfers at the centre where they wish to cast their votes.
“The Commission will no longer register new voters but only handle those that wish to process transfers or replace last voter certificates,”reads a statement in part.
The Commission says those who lost their certificates are encouraged to go to the centre where they registered to get a duplicate certificate that will enable them to vote.
Meanwhile, the Centre for Democracy and Development Initiatives( CDEDI) has challenged all the candidates in the presidential polls to condemn political violence and practice issue- based campaign with emphasis on national unity and coexistence among Malawians regardless of their political, religeous and ethnical affiliations.
In a statement signed by its Acting Executive Director, Sylvester Namiwa, dated 9th May,2020, CDEDI says although the Supreme Court ruled out new registrants, all complaints that were officially lodged with the Nation Registration Bureau in the registration of minors, should be investigated and culprits prosecuted.
CDEDI is reminding Malawians that the Supreme Court of Appeal in its ruling warned public officers who deliberately flout the law of registering minors for the purposes of satisfying their personal interests, that they will be personally held responsible for their actions.
