With a turn out of 64.25% yesterday, Malawi experienced its first election where electronic devices were used alongside manual processes for voting.
The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) deployed hand-held Electoral Management Devices, which replaced the Biometric Voter Registration system, which was used in the previous election.
In an earlier interview with ITWeb Africa, MEC spokesperson Sangwani Mwafulira said the new gadgets were “efficient, fast, dependable, and portable and include cutting-edge security mechanisms that ensure data integrity even in the event of theft”.
Although some political parties had expressed their suspicion on the use of technology, the electoral body clarified the devices would be used alongside manual procedures.
“The voting and counting processes remain manual, and, importantly, both voting and counting will take place at the same polling station,” the commission said in a statement on Monday. “This reinforces transparency, reduces logistical risks, and allows results to be witnessed first-hand by party representatives and observers on-site.”
According to the statement, the system was put in place to determine whether the voter was registered on the electoral list, and if they were the person they claimed to be.
During the election, however, there were reports of network glitches among others, making the voting process protracted and leading some voters to take to social media to express their discontent.
Before the elections, the Democratic Progressive Party led a coalition of opposition parties to court to have the electoral management system audited. The judges dismissed the application, however.
The electoral commission has up to eight days from yesterday to announce the winner of the election.
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