Pilot voter registration in Mzuzu City on Friday started on a low note with few registrants turning up, Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has confirmed.
In an interview after visiting four out of seven centers in Mzuzu City Southeast constituency, MEC Commissioner Francis Kasaila confirmed that an hour after the official opening of the centers, the turnout was low.
“One of the challenges that has been noted so far on the four centers in Mzuzu City South East is that registrants are not coming in large numbers.
“For this exercise to be successful, we need as many people as possible to come and participate in the registration because we need to test how our workforce and the equipment can withstand pressure,” said Kasaila.
The commissioner also noted that in some registration centers posters were not visible enough such that it was hard for people to see them.
He however assured that the officers have already been advised to change poster positions where necessary.
Kasaila has since appealed for more people to go to the sampled centers with their national identity cards and participate in the registration exercise.
Some residents in the city have however blamed the low turnout on lack of information on the exercise.
Veronica Chisi, a vegetable vendor in the city expressed ignorance on the exercise.
“I am hearing it now that there is such exercise. I have left my national identity card at home. I will have to participate tomorrow,” said Chisi.
Mzuzu City is among the eight councils where pilot voter registration is taking place.
Out of its three Constituencies, the exercise is taking place in Mzuzu City North and Mzuzu City South East Constituencies specifically in Nkhorongo-Doroba, Luwinga, Zolozolo West, Zolozolo East, Jombo-Kauwa, Chibanja, Mzilawayingwe, Msongwe and Masasa wards.
