As Malawi readies for its fourth democratic general multi-party poll in May, the government has, for the first time, accredited National Coordinator of the Islamic Information Bureau (IIB), a Muslim civil society organisation, to provide civic and voter education to the Muslim community. The IIB is one of 69 civil society organisations, including faith-based organizations, accredited by the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC), to prepare eligible voters through civic and voter education. IIB will try to help Muslims understand the importance of the electoral processes and mobilize them to exercise their political rights through the ballot box. About 5.8 million Malawians are expected to vote in the polls in which 1,151 candidates will slug it out in the parliamentary race and eight in the presidential. Fegus Lipenga, a MEC press officer, said they decided to accredit IIB in recognition of the importance of the Muslim vote.
Islam is the second largest faith in the secular the southern African nation after Christianity. According to state figures, Muslims constitute 12 percent of the 13-million population, though Muslim organisations put the figure at nearly 40 percent.