Malawians in diaspora resurface demand to participate in General Elections

Some Malawians living in the diaspora have rejuvenated the discussion as regards their participation in the country’s General Elections, arguing the current voting system immensely alienates them and, to a great extent, stifles their right to vote.

Chairperson of Malawians living in Ireland Henry Mkumbira-Phiri said on Monday that as Malawians living in the diaspora “it is a straight issue to say that it is our constitutional right to participate in Malawi General Elections.”

Said Phiri: “We contribute a lot towards the socio-economic development of our country and, therefore we feel it is unfair to be excluded on election issues.

“The government through the Electoral Commission should find means to ensure that the Diaspora participates in the voting. We have seen our friends from different countries doing the same in Ireland, and we feel like the Electoral Commission can work out on the same.”

According to him, having the Diaspora participate in elections will make them feel that their voices matter.

“Otherwise we become a laughing stock when we make comments about elections we don’t directly participate in,” he said.

But Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) spokesman, Sangwani Mwafulirwa, said what Malawians in the Diaspora were demanding was not possible.

“At the moment there is no law enabling the MEC to setup voter registration and polling centres outside Malawi.

“Eligible Malawians outside the country could come home and register. They can schedule their holidays to coincide with the registration and polling times. The Commission will be providing information in good time to enable planning,” Mwafulirwa said.

He noted that as they [MEC] prepare for the 2025 elections, “there will be no voter registration and voting from the Diaspora, and no online, electronic or internet voting.”

Countries across the world have, over the years, adopted internet and electronic voting because of their efficiencies in time saving and tallying of the results.

India leads the pack of using electronic voting machines for its convenience. For the 2019 elections, the country had 912 million eligible voters. Printing ballot papers for such huge population could be an environmental hazard and counting could be cumbersome.

In Africa only two (Namibia and DRC) have used electronic machines in national elections.

However, with passage of time, a number of countries have abandoned the machine systems due to issues and concerns over security and reliability.

This is happening even in the developed world including the hub of technology, the USA. About 93 percent of the votes in 2020 elections were paper-based against 86 percent in 2016.

Countries are turning to paper as the most secure way to audit elections and detect potential vote tampering.