On December 5, 2022, Parliament passed the Electoral Commission (Amendment) Bill, which became law following its approval by President Lazarus Chakwera on February 18, 2023.
The amendment to Section 4 of the law mandates the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) to work with political parties towards the improvement of elections in the country.
This improvement includes better voting methods, election materials, voter registration, vote counting, and result transmission.
Following the development, on August 4, 2023, MEC approved the purchase of advanced election technology after visiting South Africa’s Independent Electoral Commission in March 2022.
The main goal was to modernize Malawi’s elections, especially in voter registration and result transmission.
To achieve this, MEC considered three suppliers Aratek Biometric International Taiwan, Miru Systems of South Korea and Smartmatic of Netherlands).
However, only Smartmatic submitted a bid. Aratek withdrew, on the argument that it didn’t fit their business strategy, while Miru Systems did not respond…..leaving Smartmatic as the only bidder by the November 7, 2023 deadline.
Malawi Electoral Commission’s Legal Director David Matumika Banda has defended the choice of Smartmatic, saying, “The commission wanted the company to be both the manufacturer of the actual device and also the software that runs on the device.”
However the use of technology in voter registration has over the past few months been sparking mixed reactions from various sections of society.
While some view it as a step toward fairer and more efficient elections, others have been raising concerns over Procurement transparency, risk of vote manipulation and stakeholder preparedness.
Among those opposing this move are opposition political parties that include the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), United Democratic Front (UDF), Alliance for Democracy (AFORD), and the UTM.
The move, according to the spokesperson for the grouping of these political parties Shadrick Namalomba, provides a fertile ground for vote rigging.
“Malawi Electoral Commission has procured services of a company called Smartmatic, which is going to be managing the software as well as the electoral management devices. This company has a questionable character worldwide; it has been involved in elections where results have been disputed. We want this supplier and the contract to be terminated. We don’t want Smartmatic to manage elections in Malawi,” said Namalomba.
Concerns over the procurement of the new electoral technology have not only come from political parties, but also from civil society groups, who have voiced their own reservations.
These organisations are not limited to the Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI), whose Executive Director is Sylvester Namiwa.
“MEC should make a commitment to allow external auditors to audit the whole process until we are assured that this monster called Smartmatic has nothing to do with our elections” said Namiwa
In contrast, the ruling Malawi Congress Party (MCP) is in full support of the use of this technology.
According to Albert Chipeta, an ICT officer at the Malawi Congress Party, modern tools are key to accurate and fair elections.
“So far, as a party, we are grateful and satisfied with all the processes. Initially, there were some doubts that maybe something fishy was going on,” said Chipeta.
But what is the view of the church on the issue?
Reverend William Tembo is one of the senior members of the clergy from the CCAP Synod of the Livingstonia synod who is urging MEC to address the public skepticism.
“We would have been very happy if we were engaged right from the beginning. We would have loved for this information to reach almost every citizen of the country, so that people could appreciate what MEC is doing,” said Tembo.
And considering that the National Registration Bureau (NRB) provides the national ID database for voter verification, critics are of the warning that errors in this database could affect the credibility of voter registration, among other electoral processes.
However, if an assurance from Mphatso Sambo, the NRB’s Principal Secretary is anything to go by, efforts are underway to update and clean the database.
“The challenge being raised by other sectors — that we are not capable — is probably due to the involvement of the National Registration Bureau (NRB) in other processes, such as voting, since voter registration will use the NRB as the single source of truth,” said Sambo.
This controversy over this technology’s procurement has been sparking resignation calls for MEC Chairperson Justice Annabel Mtalimanja and Chief Elections Officer Andrew Mpesi.
However, Mtalimanja has for times without number, been making it crystal clear that she is not ready to resign.
“For the avoidance of doubt, I am not resigning, and the Chief Elections Officer is not resigning. The commission conducted demonstrations for all political parties, including their top leadership, to showcase the functionality of the machines. Sessions were also organized for ICT experts from all political parties to interface with ICT officers from the Malawi Electoral Commission to demonstrate the functionality of the devices. No objection was raised at that point,” said Mtalimanja.
Fast-forward to March 14, 2025, MEC had to make a rare admission that some voter records were missing from its preliminary register.
This revelation angered, among other electoral stakeholders, opposition parliamentarians, including Esther Jolobala, for Machinga East, who was of the view that Smartmatic has already failed.
Downplaying all these concerns is the government, through Minister of Justice Titus Mvalo.
“The allegations made here in Parliament were that over a million names were missing, and that is not true. In fact, according to MEC, only 11 names were missing. But even those names are in the database — so they are there. It was just raising unnecessary alarms. At this stage, we have a very credible and transparent process, and we have a very capable and independent electoral commission,” said Mvalo.
As we speak, out of the estimated 10.9 million eligible voters, MEC registered only 7,200,905 people — with 4,113,342 being women and 3,087,563 being men.
In the observation of Benedicto Kondowe, Chairperson of the Civil Society Elections Integrity Forum (CSEIF), these low voter registration numbers are due to the confusion surrounding the new technology.
“It could also be as a result of the sentiments coming from political parties, who urged would-be voters not to register,” said Kondowe.
And when all is said and done, as Malawi prepares for the 2025 elections, the use of technology registration remains controversial.
At the National Election Consultative Forum held in Lilongwe on April 30, 2025, MEC Chairperson Justice Annabel Mtalimanja presented a report on the Commission’s preparedness for the 2025 general election.
She addressed growing calls from political parties and stakeholders for an audit of the Election Management System, particularly the Voter Registration Module.
Mtalimanja clarified that while the Commission is open to an audit, it must be guided by a clearly defined scope and based on specific irregularities or anomalies observed in the electoral process or data.
She warned that demands for a broad, unscoped audit raise serious security concerns and could potentially breach the intellectual property rights of system developers.
The Commission reaffirmed its stance that it cannot proceed with an audit that lacks structure or justification.
As of the date of the forum, no political party or stakeholder had submitted a formal, scoped audit request to the Commission.
Currently, MEC has submitted the voters’ register to all 23 political parties for verification and inspection.
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