By Enock Naphazi, MEC Stringer
As the phase 3 of voter verification exercise is going towards the end it has been revealed that most centers in Neno district had no party monitors.
A continuous visit to most of the centers in the district by Neno District Election Supervisory Team (DEST) only found the presence of NICE Trust and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) monitors in some centres.
National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE) District Civic Education Officer for Neno, Walasi Kudzala said the failure by political parties to send their monitors to oversee the exercise is a threat to the enhancement of transparent in the electoral process.
“This exercise is very important because it give political parties opportunity to know the changes and shortcomings in the voter registry,” said Kudzala.
According to Kudzala, fielding monitors in every electoral process can help monitors to gain enough experience before actual voting day.
“Political parties that monitor voter registration may be required to engage in activities that are similar to those they conduct as part of their Election Day monitoring efforts.
By conducting activities several months before Election Day, political parties can identify important monitoring strengths and weaknesses.
The lessons learned from monitoring the voter registration process can serve to enhance their monitoring of voting, counting and tabulation of results,” added Kudzala.
Third phase of voter verification exercise started on 15 and will end on 19 May, 2020 in the councils of Mzuzu City, Mzimba, Ntchisi, Mchinji, Balaka, Zomba City, Zomba District and Neno.
