Mec registers about 900,000 voters in 6th phase
By Faith Kamtambe:
Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) has registered 866,985 voters in phase six of the voter registration exercise out of the 1,064,376 projected number of voters.
At a press briefing in Lilongwe Friday, Mec Chairperson Justice Jane Ansah said this represents 81 percent of the projected figure.
“A total of 521,381 voters are women while 345,603 voters are men. The total registered voters for this phase is 92 percent against the 2014 registered voters which were 944, 586,” she said.
Phase 7 of the exercise is expected to commence on Monday October 8, and will run up to October 21. Districts expected to be covered include Chitipa, Karonga, Rumphi, Machinga and Chiradzulu.
In all the six phases, 5,522,926 voters have so far been registered against a projection of 6,835,358 which translates to 81 percent. Of the total registered voters, 3,055,813 are women representing 55 percent and 2,466,605 are men representing 45 percent.
“Of all the total registered voters for the six phases, the number of youths, aged less than 35 years registered is 3,134,651 representing 57 percent. Of the total sum for registered youths, 1,711,945 are females representing 55 percent and 1,422,706 are males translating into 45 percent,” she said.
From the totals according to Mec, Nsanje is the only district that has recorded above the 2018 projection. The district has registered 145,528 voters which is 104 percent of the 2018 projection and 115 percent against the 2014 total registered voters for the district.
Second on the ladder is Chikhwawa which registered 94 percent of the 2018 projection and 106 percent against 2014 figures.
Ansah also said Mec continues to face transport challenges. She said, in phase six, Mec hired 36 buses at a cost of K74 million for transition of registration staff to phase seven councils.
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