DPP going to court to challenge national IDs use as sole identification for voter registration
DPP spokesperson Shadric Namalomba says the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Act, which prescribes the use of the ID as the only form of identification, is a bad law as such the party will go to court to challenge it.
So far, he said, lawyers for his party are already processing paperwork to challenge it.
Asked why DPP wants to challenge the same law that they gave input during deliberations and subsequent passing, Namalomba said the government side, which has a majority of members of Parliament (MPs) under the Tonse Alliance is responsible for enactment of the law.
“This is a bad law, it will disenfranchise voters. Government commands the majority numbers in Parliament. They used simple majority and bypassed the Constitution,” he said.
DPP’s court move comes after the party said in July this year it would lobby legislators to push for a constitutional amendment to change the requirement that only national ID holders will be eligible to register as voters
In response, MEC chairperson Annabel Mtalimanja says MEC works within framework of the law and the law as it stands right now recognizes that proof of eligibility for voter registration and voting itself is the national ID.
Mtalimanja, a judge of the High Court of Malawi, said it was not within MEC’s scope to facilitate further discussion on the national ID as the only tool for identification.
“Should Parliament change the law then MEC will abide by it as it would be passed,” she said.
Parliament on December 13 2022 passed the amended Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Election Bill, which President Lazarus Chakwera signed into law on February 18 2023.
The law put in place a comprehensive legal framework for the regulation of the three elections in the country.
Section 4 (12) of the Act states that a person who is eligible to be registered as a voter in an election shall, as proof of eligibility, present in person to a registration officer, proof of his or her national registration issued by National Registration Bureau (NRB).
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