The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has appealed to Election Management Device (EMD) operators to be ethical in the discharge of duties when voter registration starts.
MEC’s Chief Elections Officer, Andrew Mpesi, appealed on Sunday in Mponela-Dowa during the training of the second cohort of Election Management Device operators.
He said the device operators are an extension of MEC, and as such, they are expected to work with integrity and professionalism and understand the intensity of the work before them.
“Elections is a serious business, and every stage is critical. We expect them to operate with a high level of professionalism and the integrity it deserves,” he said.
Mpesi added: “What is critical is that the entire country is looking at this process which is in law,w and it must be treated with a high sense of integrity and responsibility that we have as electoral body,” he said.
He then appealed to the trainees to refrain from being partisan to avoid creating a conflict of interest in the discharge of their duties.
Mpesi said the training was aimed at making the trainees understand the legal process that governs the voter registration process, how to handle the process using the EMDs and how to relate with other electoral stakeholders during the registration process.
One of the participants, Rebecca Thumb, said the training will help equip them with knowledge and skills on how they can handle the voter registration devices and the registrants.
“We expect to have a very smooth voter registration exercise and the registrants should expect to be accorded the respect they deserve when they come for registration.
The first phase of the registration exercise is set to start on October 21 2024.
