LILONGWE, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Preliminary cumulative figures of Malawians who have registered in the three respective voter registration exercises ahead of the September 2025 general elections show that more than 7 million people have registered, slightly above the 6.8 million voters registered for the 2019 elections, according to data released by the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) on Wednesday.
A total of 10,957,490 people were expected to register as projected by the country's statistical office, but at the close of the third and last phase of the registration exercises on Dec. 11, a total of 7,162,217 voters had registered, representing 65 percent of the expected figure.
The MEC, however, noted that the figures for the three phases of the voter registration exercises are preliminary and that there might be slight changes upon "cleaning of the data."
According to MEC Chief Elections Officer Andrew Mpesi, the commission will make public the final figures once any "impurities" such as duplicate registration are cleared.
The MEC conducted the voter registration exercises in three phases from November, dividing the country's district councils into groupings of 14 councils apiece for Phases I and II, and eight councils for Phase III.
According to the National Statistical Office of Malawi, the country's current population is estimated at 21.7 million, with the youth accounting for over 50 percent.
Malawi will conduct tripartite elections on Sept. 16, 2025, to elect the president, members of parliament, and local government representatives.
The southeastern African country has at least 20 registered political parties, with three of them -- the ruling Malawi Congress Party, the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party, and the United Transformation Movement -- being the key contenders, although there is a likelihood of political alliances with other smaller parties. ■