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Location:
Lilongwe, Malawi
Period:
1st January 2007 to 31st December 2009
Corporate Thematic Area:
Democratic Governance
2007 - 2009 Budget:
US$ 28.9 million
Implementing Partners:
Malawi Electoral Commission
Development Partners:
DFID, Norway/Sweden, EU, USAID and the GTZ
Contact:
Sam Alfandika
Project Coordinator
P.O. Box 30135
Lilongwe 3, Malawi
Office: +265 (0) 1 773 500, Ext. 266
sam.alfandika@undp.org
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Free, fair and regular elections are central to the legitimacy of a democratic government. Free means, voters can support the candidate or party of their choice without fear of intimidation or violence. Fair means that elections have been conducted on an open and level playing field for all candidates and according to the law.
Malawi is a young democracy that held its first multiparty elections in 1994. It is challenged by a wide range of serious problems including: HIV and AIDS, which affects 14 percent of the adult population (ages 15-49), large scale and rising unemployment, intra and inter party conflicts, corruption, a predominantly illiterate rural population and absence of a national I.D. scheme. Malawi must conduct its elections in the midst of this challenging set of social and political conditions.
The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) was founded in 1998 and has since conducted and supervised two general elections and one local election. Though there has been progress, the most recent general elections in May 2004 revealed a number of remaining problems in Malawi’s electoral regime. Major problems included inadequate and delayed funding disbursements to MEC, inadequate capacity in the electoral management body, inadequate civic and voter education that resulted into a low voter turn out and a high number of null and void votes and a flawed voters register.
The Malawi Electoral Commission is committed to evolving into a transparent, accountable and independent electoral management body capable of holding free, fair and credible elections. MEC formulated a five-year Strategic Plan in response to the identified shortcomings. The Strategic Plan guides the Malawi Electoral Commission as well as development partner support for an “in between the ballot box” programme of reform leading up to the Presidential and Parliamentary elections in May 2009.
The Support to Electoral Reforms and Elections project is central to the reform programme of Malawi’s electoral processes. It aims to promote good governance, gender equity and a rights-based approach to development, in line with the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy and the United Nations Development Framework. Through providing support for reforms in the Malawi Electoral Commission, the UNDP coordinated project is fostering a more effective, responsive, accountable and credible electoral management body. This is essential if there are to be free and fair elections in Malawi. This three- year project is programmed to run until December 2009.
UNDP is the technical and administrative lead for a multi-development partner assistance to support MEC in its efforts to prepare for the 2009 elections. The project support is in the form of directly financing MEC and providing technical assistance for capacity building in a number of areas. It is coordinating development partners’ support to ensure efficient and effective utilization of donor and government resources..
The project includes four main target areas. First is institutional capacity building for MEC. The project has and would continue to provide training for all MEC staff, brought in electoral management systems software to give MEC tools more in line with international best practice, and provided technical assistance to fill in capacity gaps and transfer skills to permanent staff in MEC. The second is establishing an improved computerised voter roll. The project will provide MEC with resources for the procurement of a new voter registration system. This will support both the field data capturing and inputting for the creation of the new voters’ register.
The voters register
A credible voter’s register is a very important component for the conduct of free and fair elections. In the 2004 General Elections, the voter registration process had a number of shortcomings that resulted into the production of a flawed voters’ register. A significant number of registrants were not captured in the register, others had their personal details inaccurately captured or attached to someone else’s picture. There were also significant cases of multiple registrations. These problems rendered the voters register flawed. The UNDP is therefore supporting the creation of a sustainable and credible voters’ register for use in the 2009 elections.
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The third target area is providing support for actual conduct of elections. This includes providing the funding to the MEC for the procurement of electoral materials and implementation of activities. An election is a very costly undertaking because of the different materials and equipment involved as well as the nationwide coverage of the exercise. The fourth component is civic and voter education. Here the UNDP coordinated project provides financial support to MEC, for planning and implementing a focused programme across the country. The MEC implements the civic and voter education activities with the support from accredited civil society organizations.
Civic and Voter Education
The Malawi Electoral Commission’s programme to educate the public on their civic duties centers on communicating why citizens should register and vote during elections and also how to cast a vote. This is done using focused messages disseminated through the radio, television, t-shirts, leaflets, posters, banners, open rallies and mobile vans. To ensure adequate coverage, MEC also funds civil society organizations to supplement its efforts in the delivery of this education. |
A harmonized approach to the implementation of the electoral process is the key to the conduct of free, far and transparent 2009 elections in Malawi. All stakeholders in elections, that is, Government, MEC, civil society organizations and development partners should join hands to achieve this.
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UNDP Malawi
