MALAWI ELECTORAL COMMISSION Youth Participation in 2014 Tripartite Elections and Approaches Presentation by Commissioner Rev Maxwell Mezuwa Banda SALUTATION - His Excellency, Mr Michael Nevin – British High Commissioner - The Chairman of YCF - The Deputy Chairman of YCF - The National Coordinator of YCF - Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen - All protocols observed A. INTRODUCTION This presentation is made during an Extra-ordinary General Assembly by the Youth Consultative Forum. This presentation aims to give an overview picture of the preparations for the 2014 Tripartite Elections and highlight the opportunities and challenges available for youth participations. Preparations for 2014 Tripartite Elections Malawi goes to the polls in 2014 for Tripartite Elections on May 20, 2014. The Elections next year are significant in a number of ways. It will be 50 years since independence and it will be also 20 years since Malawi embraced multi-party politics. These elections will for the first time go tripartite. Malawians are going to elect the President, Members of Parliament and Councillors. This is a new phenomenon. For the 2014 Tripartite Elections, the Commission decided that everyone should register; whether they registered before or not. In common person’s language, anyone who was born before 20th May, 1996 will have to register because they will have attained the age of 18 on the polling day. We start registration of voters on 22nd July 2013. The registration process will be done in 10 phases across the country starting on the 22nd of July 2013 and ending on 4 January 2014. Each phase will operate for a period of 14 days irrespective of holidays with a 3 day transition period between the end and before the commencement of the next phase. In February, we will receive nominations of candidates who intend to join the race. We have 193 Constituencies. 462 wards and 4,447 registration centres across the country. In March / April registered voters will inspect and verify their details in the Voters roll. On 21 March the official campaign will commence and close on 18 May 2014. Voting will take place on 20 May 2014. We expect official results for the Presidential Race to be announced by 28 May and in any event within 7 days of the poll. The results for the Members of Parliament will be announced within 14 days. The results for the Councilors will be announced within 21 days. This is what has been planned. We are confident that with the steps we have taken Malawi will have peaceful, free, fair and credible elections. I now wish to update you on what has been done so far within the MEC in preparing for the forthcoming elections:- 1. Consultation with Key Stakeholders 2. Introducing Monitoring Tools 3. Introduction of Innovative ways of securing conducive environment for elections 4. We have endeavored to be inclusive Now all these factors make 2014 a year of great expectations. We have here an opportunity to do things differently and there are many opportunities for youth participation. Do the youth matter? The Malawi population is increasingly becoming youthful. Majority of the voters are under the age of 35 and this means the electoral Commission cannot ignore them. Undoubtedly, youth are the backbone of a nation. So in order for a nation to progress, it is imperative that a proper system of youth empowerment is put in place. Youth participation in registration For the 2014 Tripartite Elections, the Commission decided that there should be a fresh registration that is everyone has to register whether they registered before or not. By this we wanted to deal away with the challenges we faced with the voters’ roll whereby some names were found missing, or with wrong pictures, or in wrong centres. And also the fact that the roll was bloated with dead persons, we could not have a clear picture of the total eligible voters in the country. As the registration starts, this is the first step for youth to participate in electoral activities. Eligible registrants are those that have attained the age of 18 or will have attained the age of 18 by May 20, 2014 which is the polling day. Out in simple way everyone who was born before May 20,1996 will be eligible to register. As a Commission we know most of the first time registrants will be the youth who have attained the voting age or will attain the voting age by the time we go to the polls. One fascinating thing about next year’s election is that it will be the first elections whereby “multiparty born youth” will participate in national elections. The Commission is putting up all its efforts to woo these first time registrants to exercise their right and duty. The youth are in majority and if they do not register it means a significant section of the country will be missing its representation in electoral processes. May I also take the opportunity to inform you that you also need to register if you wish to contest as a candidate for any of the three positions that will be contested that is councillor, Member of Parliament and President. You should also register so that you can nominate a candidate of your choice to contest. If one wants to stand as a councillor, the law requires that their candidature should be endorsed by at least 10 registered voters from the ward which they want to stand. For Members of Parliament, the law requires that the candidature be endorsed by at least 10 registered voters from the constituency in which the aspirant wants to stand. For presidency the requirement is the candidature should be endorsed by at least 10 registered voters from each of the districts. If the youth are not registered voters, that means they will not have the opportunity to endorse the candidature of their fellow youths who want to contest as a candidates. Participation as civic and voter education providers The Malawi Electoral Commission did advertise calling for interested organizations to apply for accreditation. The response was overwhelming and after a thorough analysis a total of 72 NGOs, 17 faith-based organizations and 23 community based organizations were accredited. Among these there are 12 organizations that are focusing on women and 22 organizations have special focus on the youth and they are YouthNet and Counselling, Umodzi Youth Organisation, Active Youth in Development, Active Youth Initiative for Social Enhancement (AYISE), Maonde Youth Initiative for Support (MAYISS), Solomonic Peacocks Theatre Company, Concerned Youth Organisation, Youth Impact Organisation, Youth Coalition for Consolidation of Democracy, Malawi Human Rights Youth Organisation, Centre for Youth and Children’s Affairs, Young Politicians Union, Nkhotakota Youth Organisation, Youth Empowerment and Civic Education, Youth and Children’s Rights Shield, Centre for Children’s AID, Arise and Shine Youth Organisation, Communities in Development Activities (COIDA),Youth Watch Society, Mzuzu Youth Association and Foundation for Children’s Rights. You can see that we have a bigger number of organizations with special interests in the youth. We would assume that a good percentage of staff working in these organizations are also the youth. That means we have more youth working in the civil society organisation that will be involved in civic and voter education. Wherever, the success of the 2014 Tripartite Elections will be mentioned these youths will also be mentioned. With more youths overwhelming and after a thorough analysis a total of 72 NGOs, 17 faith-based organizations and 23 community based organizations were accredited. Among these there are 12 organizations that are focusing on women and 22 organizations have special focus on the youth and they are YouthNet and Counselling, Umodzi Youth Organisation, Active Youth in Development, Active Youth Initiative for Social Enhancement (AYISE), Maonde Youth Initiative for Support (MAYISS), Solomonic Peacocks Theatre Company, Concerned Youth Organisation, Youth Impact Organisation, Youth Coalition for Consolidation of Democracy, Malawi Human Rights Youth Organisation, Centre for Youth and Children’s Affairs, Young Politicians Union, Nkhotakota Youth Organisation, Youth Empowerment and Civic Education, Youth and Children’s Rights Shield, Centre for Children’s AID, Arise and Shine Youth Organisation, Communities in Development Activities (COIDA),Youth Watch Society, Mzuzu Youth Association and Foundation for Children’s Rights. You can see that we have a bigger number of organizations with special interests in the youth. We would assume that a good percentage of staff working in these organizations are also the youth. That means we have more youth working in the civil society organisation that will be involved in civic and voter education. Wherever, the success of the 2014 Tripartite Elections will be mentioned these youths will also be mentioned. With more youths The Malawi Electoral Commission has put up several measures to ensure that the elections next year are free, fair and credible. The youth do have a role to ensure that this is achieved. First the youth should participate in monitoring of the elections and this starts with registration process. Apart from that, they need to ensure that the elections are held in an environment free of violence and intimidation. In the past we have had cases whereby the youth have been used as agents of violence. Violence creates an environment of fear which may hinder others from participating in the elections and such elections cannot be branded to be free, fair and credible. The youth need to be proactive by now ensuring that the culture of violence is stopped and that all perpetrators are reported to police. The Commission on its part will do everything according to law to ensure that there is no hindrance for anyone wishing to participate in the elections. Youth participation beyond 2014 The Malawi Electoral Commission has adopted an electoral cycle to elections. This means that elections are no longer treated as an event but a five year cycle which can be split into three phases; the pre-voting phase, the elections period and the post-voting period. There are many activities that take place during these phases and the youth need to participate in all these phases. Right now we are in the electoral phase that is why I had to dwell so much on the activities happening now. But even after elections there are many activities that the youth can participate in eg review of how the elections have been conducted whereby special focus can be placed on participation and performance of the youth, review of electoral legislation and holding of elected leaders accountable to ensure that they fulfill their campaign promises. Challenges The first challenge is access to resources. Many youth have the ideas but they cannot implement them because of resources. This sometimes puts them at a disadvantage if competing with senior citizens who have fats wallets. But I should say that communities have responsibilities to support the youth if their ideas are good. The systems within parties seem so well knitted that a new comer, probably a youth cannot penetrate. In some cases the platform may not be offered and you will really need to fight for it and that is another way of showing that you are capable. Another challenge is perpetuated by the youth themselves; when given positions we do not fulfill responsibilities and this has forced many to doubt the youth ad cling to the other age brackets. We do not play our roles In a mature and responsible manner. Conclusion The elections in 2014 offer several opportunities for participation of the youth. We need to get organized and seize the opportunity. The participation of the youth is not being limited to voting, but they can also be the candidates. In conclusion I want to leave you with a quotation from the novel, Things Fall Apart by late Chinua Achebe where he said “when a young man has washed his hands clean he can dine with the elders”. As youth you really need to position yourselves to take the positions of authority, they will not come to you but you have to go for them. Your participation in elections is vital for the future and sustainability of our democracy.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Jul 2013 11:29:17 +0000