Parliament passes bill to streamline elections in Malawi

Malawi: Malawi Parliament passed the Presidential, Parliamentary, and Local Government Elections Bill on December 13, 2022, with the goal of enacting a new comprehensive legal framework for the regulation of presidential, parliamentary, and local government elections in Malawi, writes Esther Banda.

The Bill also proposes to harmonise and consolidate the Parliamentary and Presidential Elections Act (Cap. 2:01) and the Local Government Elections Act (Cap. 22:02) into a single piece of legislation in order to improve the accessibility and consistency of Malawi's legal framework governing election conduct.

The bill also seeks to detail the procedure for a second poll in a presidential election where no candidate receives a majority of more than fifty percent in the first poll.

In his contribution, Machinga Likwenu Legislator, Bright Msaka, stated that as a legislator, he is very happy that they have introduced the existence of a Constituency Tally Center so that they can address the concerns that arise during the elections.

Msaka suggested that the voting materials be stored by the Clerk of Parliament as a neutral entity so that everyone has equal access to the materials.

In his remarks, Minister of Justice Titus Mvalo stated that it is a very important bill and that it makes sense for the voting materials to be kept by a neutral party such as the Clerk of Parliament because it will be easy to access by anyone if there is a dispute between candidates and the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) after the election results are released.