The run up to the by elections is certainly seriously underway.
Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has urged all Malawians who will cast votes in the October 17 by-elections to keep their voter certificates safe from fraudsters.
The call has been made in a statement issued by the electoral body on Friday.
According to the statement, it is the responsibility of every Malawian to take care of the voter’s certificate so that they will be eligible to choose candidates of their choice.
“The Malawi Electoral Commission is reminding all registered voters that it is their legal responsibility to keep safe the voter certificates issued to them by the Malawi Electoral Commission.
“This is in view of reports that some people are going in homes copying voter certificates numbers. The Parliamentary and Presidential Elections Act section 24(3) says “A person to whom a voter’s registration certificate has been issued shall be personally responsible at all times for its safekeeping and shall not place or cause it to be placed in the custody of any other person or allow any other person to use it to vote in an election,” reads the statement.
The commission has further informed the electorate that voting is by secret ballot so they should not be intimidated or persuaded to vote against their will because someone copied their voter certificate number.
“The general public should know it is an offence to induce the sale or surrender of a registration certificate or to offer for sale, to buy or to surrender a voter certificate.
“The public is encouraged to report to the nearest police station any of these malpractices,” says MEC in the statement.
The commission has since urged all registered voters who have given their certificates to a third party to get them back and keep for themselves and that they should examine the certificate to see if it has not been tampered with.
MEC has asked all eligible voters to follow all the procedures on the polling day and that doing anything contrary to electoral rules is illegal.
