True

Elections 2025

The Biometric Verification System indeed malfunctioned in some polling stations

FACT-CHECKED by iVerify

September 16, 2025

Data that the Election Situation Room captured in the morning of the voting day, September 16, 2025, indicates that significant malfunctions of the Biometric Verification Identification System have been reported, causing delays or halting voting in some stations.

Claim

Failure of Biometric Identification Machines in some polling stations

Rating Justification

iVerify Malawi verified the information and determined that it is true. To arrive at this verdict, iVerify Malawi looked at the data presented to the Election Situation Room and found that National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE) Public Trust observers had reported that a significant number of polling stations had a Biometric Verification System malfunctioning, thereby delaying and halting the voting, in extreme circumstances. In some cases, the manual identification was used.

Evidence and References

Election Situation Room statement

Oxfam captured parts of the Election Situation Room statement.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BCsi8KpCk/

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