By Patuma Kachoka

Machinga, May 28, Mana: Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) Deputy Chief Elections Officer Harris Potani said electoral staff have a unique role to ensure that next year's general elections are conducted in a free, fair and credible manner.

Potani was speaking Tuesday in Machinga District during a bridging course in electoral administration and voter registration for its members of staff.

He said it was important to hold such training with electoral experts as they are crucial in the electoral process to make the process credible.

"This meeting is important because it will assist the members of staff in their day to day work; for us to serve the Malawian nation better, we want people who are well knowledgeable in their duties.

"So, we want our staff to be on top of the game and if they are excellent in delivery of their work, it means the elections will be free, fair and actually will have credible results," Potani said.

He disclosed that MEC is migrating from the old system to a new system called Election Management Device (EMD) which will be used in most electoral processes, including voter registration.

"For the next registration of voters, we are moving away from the old kit and will be now using the Elections Management Devices. Shortly, we will be recruiting people who will be trained on how to operate these gadgets as we plan for voter registration," he said.

Earlier, Assistant District Elections Officer for Balaka, Davis Konondo, said the training was timely.

"The training will help us to work properly as we are preparing for the elections; the training will give us an opportunity to know the new laws so that we should follow all the new laws that have been approved," Konondo said.

MEC is expected to roll out the voter registration process from September to December 2024.