Registrations for elections get off to a slow start

Registration of Malawi’s five million potential voters got off to a slow start on Tuesday as administrative glitches hampered the process. A spokesperson for the Electoral Commission told IRIN on Wednesday that there were 3,700 registration points in Malawi, but that at the moment only 1,000 were operating. He said this was largely because there were only 1,000 cameras available to take photographs for the registration cards that voters needed . He said this meant that the registration exercise would be a staggered process, but the Commission was hoping for additional cameras early next week which would allow for more registration points to be opened. The spokesperson said that at this stage they were looking at 25 May as the definite election date, unless something were to happen that would necessitate a change in the date. The polling date had initially been set for 18 May, but was postponed after a delay in the registration process.