Thursday, April 30, 2009

Malawi cleans errors from voter list

Malawi cleans errors from voter list

Blantyre - Malawi's elections authority said on Thursday it is cleaning up its voters roll less than three weeks before national elections, after missing names and other incorrect data were discovered.

"The electoral commission is in the process of rectifying errors and making amendments from the voters' roll," Anastazia Msosa, who chairs the commission, said.

"There was incorrect data, missing and misplaced names, missing photos and incorrect information," Msosa added.

Msosa, a judge of the supreme court of appeal, said the anomalies were discovered during a verification exercise launched last week throughout the country.

About 5,8 million people are registered for the presidential and parliamentary poll on May 19.

Msosa said she was hoping the corrections would be completed by next week "to allow for voting to take place on May 19."

Similar problems surfaced in the 2004 elections.

The front runners in the presidential race are incumbent Bingu wa Mutharika and veteran opposition leader John Tembo of the Malawi Congress Party.

Former president Bakili Muluzi, who ruled the impoverished southern African nation from 1994 to 2004 and was seeking a third term, was axed from the race because he had already hit his two-terms limit.

Over 1,000 candidates, half of them independents, are vying for 193 parliamentary seats.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=nw20090430191030152C820035



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