Phase one of voters register verification ends Friday

The first phase of voters register verification covering all centres in Kasungu, Nkhotakota, Ntchisi, Dowa, Salima, Mchinji and Dedza districts and Kasungu Municipality will close to the public on Friday December 14 at 4.00pm.

A statement from Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) signed by Chief Elections Officer, Sam Alfandika says phase two will run from December 18 to 22 to will cover Lilongwe, Ntcheu, Blantyre, Mwanza, Neno, Nsanje and Chikwawa districts and also cities of Lilongwe and Blantyre.

MEC reminds the general public that there will be no extension to phase one of the voters’ register verification exercise and, as such all registered voters in the areas covered under this phase are encouraged to do so at the centre where they registered before the closing time. 

“Registered voters who have moved into the areas covered under phase one are also encouraged to process their transfers at the centre they wish to use for voting on 21st May 2019.

“The Commission is reminding all stakeholders that it is not conducting fresh voter registration for those that failed to do so during thevoter registration period.”

Phase Three is from December 26 to 30 covering Mangochi, Mangochi Town, Balaka, Machinga, Zomba, Zomba City, Chiradzulu, Thyolo, Luchenza Municipality, Phalombe and Mulanje while the last phase is from January 5 to 9 covering Chitipa, Karonga, Rumphi, Nkhata Bay, Likoma, Mzuzu Cityand Mzimba.

At a press briefing in Lilongwe MEC chairperson Justice JaneAnsah also reminded the public to also verify their voter details through SMS which is free and does not require airtime or credit. 

“A user does not need to own handset, they can use that of a friend, spouse, parent or good neighbour. One handset can be used for a whole family or neighborhood. This system will work for TNM and Airtel subscribers only.

“The process is: dial *2019# then send. You will get an SMS response that will direct you on how to proceed. The final response will display your name, the voter registration number, district, constituency, ward and centre names. 

“If there are errors in the registration information or the system responds that the details are not available, voters, are encouraged to visit the centre where they registered and they will be assisted accordingly.

“The Commission had planned to implement this system in partnership with Malawi Electoral Support Network (MESN), as was the case in2014. We had also announced that we will use the code 5VOTE (58683). However,there have been new developments with our partner and they informed us after we had already communicated to the public. 

“Be assured that our SMS system is secure and delinked fromthe MEC main server for the voters register. Even in the unlikely case of an intrusion or attack by hackers to the SMS system, this will not affect the MEC servers for the voters register in any way. The database for the SMS system isseparate and only contains the text details of the voters’ register.”

She also announced they have so far have 6 856 295 voters registered in their database.

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