7.5m Malawians register to vote in tripartite elections
The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has registered a total of 7,537,548 voters nationwide for the May 20 tripartite elections by closing of registration on December 18, 2013, it has been announced.
MEC statement on the final statistics of registered voters after phase nine of registration released on Monday says the registered voters represent 94.10 percent of the projected total for the exercise which was 8,009,734 registrants.
“The total registered is also 16 percent above the 6,500,759 voters in 2010.
“Of the total registered voters, 3,481,365 are men representing 46.19 percent while 4,056,183 are women representing 53.81 percent,” reads the statement signed by Chief Elections Officer Willie Kalonga.
Registration for the 2014 Tripartite Elections which started on July 22 2013 ended on December 18, 2013 at the end of phase 9 of the voter registration drive. The exercise covered nine phases of 14 days each.
The Commission is also informing the public that 775,564 voters were registered in phase 9 representing 94.10 percent of the total projected 824,912. The total registered for phase 9 is also 115.95 percent of 669,505 voters registered in 2010.
Phase 9 covered Nkhotakota and Salima districts, Mzuzu City, Mzimba South, Mzimba Solola, Kasungu North, Kasungu North-West, Kasungu South and Kasungu South-East constituencies.
For the 2014 Tripartite Elections, the Commission decided that everyone should register; whether they registered before or not.
MEC also allowed anyone who was born before 20th May, 1996 registered because they will have attained the age of 18 on the polling day.—MEC Stringer
