ceo presentation post elections review

							     2009 GENERAL ELECTIONS

   CHALLENGES EXPERIENCED AND
     METHODS OF RESOLUTION



           Presentation by: D. C. Bandawe
               Chief Elections Officer
            Malawi Electoral Commission



8/9/2012                                    1
             1. INTRODUCTION

• The Commission was established following the
  enactment of the Electoral Commission’s Act to
  specifically conduct elections in Malawi. The
  commission was established under Section 75 of the
  Constitution of the Republic of Malawi.
• It consists of a Chairman and not less than six other
  Commissioners.



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• Members of the Commission are appointed by the
  President in accordance with the Constitution and in
  consultation with leaders of the political parties
  represented in the National Assembly.

• Currently there is the Chairman and 7 Commissioners.

• The Commission acts as a policy-making/regulatory
  authority whose decisions are implemented through a
  management team headed by the Chief Elections
  Officer.


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                2.   CHALLENGES
Summary

•   Legal Environment
•   Budgeting Process
•   Staffing Levels
•   Voter Registration
•   Massive breaking down of equipment
•   Farming Period
•   Transportation of Part Bs (Optical Mark
    Recognition Forms (OMR Forms)
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         2.    CHALLENGES (cont’d)


Summary (Cont’d)

•   Computerisation of the Registers
•   Inspection of the Registers
•   Nomination of Candidates
•   Ballot Paper Management

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          A.   LEGAL ENVIRONMENT


• Electoral Laws not amended for something
  therefore do not conform to the current
  environment, for example,
a) Laws governing voting procedure are too
   detailed on voting process that would pose a
   challenge to the Commission if the
   Commission wanted to introduce inventions
   in new technology;

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b) Section 51(e) on Qualifications of Members of
   Parliament

• Public Officer to resign from office in order to stand.
  Example of MP.

• Intention not clear.

• Restrictive and not in conformity to democratic
  principles which call for wide participation.

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• Campaigning period Vs receipt of nomination
  papers.

• Currently the Commission is reviewing the
  electoral laws.




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          B.    BUDGETING PROCESS


•   Budget Preparation
•   Adjustment of the budget
•   Later budget was revised to its original form
•   Only people competent in electoral process
    to be involved in budget preparation


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         C.    STAFFING LEVELS



• Staff Shortages
• Staff in Finance Section
• Secondment of Staff



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     D. VOTER REGISTRATION

• Inaccurate register entailed commencement of
  fresh registration involving instant production of
  IDs with voters’ photographs and finger prints.

• Acquisition of supporting equipment to capture
  information in the 3897 centres but only 870
  pieces of equipment procured.

• Staggering of registration

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• Massive Equipment Failure

a) Poor handling
b) Equipment vulnerability to untested August
   operational environment




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      Corrective Measures Included:-


• Replacement of equipment and acquisition of
  spares

• Trained technicians

• Extensions

• Budgetary implications
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           E.    FARMING PERIOD


• Registration coincided with farming season
• Patronage slow particularly in the morning hours
• Upon observing long queues, eligible voters
  returned without registering
• Also affected bubbling of OMR Forms
Solution
• Intensifying of Civic Education programmes to
  mobilise and motivate people.

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          F.          RAINY SEASON

• Related to farming season is rainy season
• Eligible voters failed to turn up for registration
• Affected transportation of equipment from
  one phase to another
• Cloudy conditions affected performance of
  solar panels
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G.    Transportation of Part Bs – Optimal Mark
             Recognition (OMR) Forms

• OMR forms transported to MEC Headquarters
  for computerisation.

• Use of open trucks Vs vans.




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      H.     Computerisation of the Register
• Computerisation of registers took place at MEC HQs where
  Part Bs were scanned and stored in the Database.

Challenges
• Forms not properly bubbled
• Forms were dirty because of dust (resulted in scanning
  problems)

Solution
• Introduced pre-processing phase
• Another correcting stage was introduced where images
  were compared with corresponding scanned information.

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• Use of wrong codes resulted into mis-
  allocation of voters to other centres. At this
  stage, this was difficult to detect until the
  inspection period.




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        I.   Inspection of the Register


• Conducted in order for registered voters to
  verify entries on the registers.
• Although poorly patronised but exposed some
  inaccurate information on the registers.
• Insufficient information of registered voters
• Swapping of photographs
• Misallocations
• Voters missing in the registers
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Solution

• ICT made sure that problems reported and noted
  were sorted out.
• MEC carried out an in-house verification exercise by
  involving teachers and field registration staff.
• Matched information on Part As with information on
  the voters register.
• Commission made decision to produce reference
  register to carter for those not appearing on the
  normal register with photographs.
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• On polling, Presiding Officers were advised to
  accommodate voters not appearing on the roll but
  with certificate numbers within the range of that
  centre. Details recorded.




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       J.     Nomination of Candidates


• Extension of nomination period

• Determination of nomination fees challenged by
  political parties

• Eligibility of former President of the Republic of
  Malawi.


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       K.     Ballot Paper Management
• Award of contracts to the successful bidder Vs two
  other bidders.
• Posed challenge to the Commission as it could not re-
  open tendering process in view of time factor.
• Mis-prints in two constituencies but corrected before
  polling.
• Some opposition parties expressed concerns that
  ballot papers were printed without their participation
  and concluded that it was a recipe for rigging but the
  Commission invited them to be present when taking
  delivery of the ballot papers.

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• The Commission also assured them that it was
  neutral and dealing with the matter professionally to
  ensure transparency.

• Despite all the assurances, on receipt of ballot
  papers, the opposition political parties exerted
  unnecessary pressure on officials receiving the ballot
  papers.




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             3. CONCLUSION
•Despite challenges highlighted in this presentation,
the 2009 Parliamentary and Presidential Elections
were successfully implemented.

•This was demonstrated by the way Malawians
conducted themselves after the elections.

•It was also manifested in the registration drive in
which 5.9 million Malawians registered out of the
6.2 eligible Malawians.

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• Voter turn-out was very high – 78% and the number
  of null and void votes was the lowest since 1994.

• Reports from Observer Missions also applauded this
  year’s elections as successful, peaceful, free and fair
  and credible.




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