By Cathy Maulidi
Justice Minister Titus Mvalo has put into effect the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Act (PPLGEA).
The Act details procedures for a second poll in a presidential election, in case no candidate has managed to amass more than 50 percent majority in the first poll.
Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mpesi told The Daily Times that the minister has chosen this year as the time the Act will start functioning.
He said this means the Act is ready for use in the 2025 election.
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“The minister has appointed a date on which this law can start functioning. This is what the Malawi Electoral Commission has been looking forward to,” Mpesi said.
“This is very key and fundamental to electoral democracy in this country because one of the important things in an election is making sure that the legal framework is solid and he has made it solid,” he added.
Mpesi said this also effects a public holiday on the polling day.
He also disclosed that Mec is developing relevant electoral regulations, processes, forms and manuals that are consistent with the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Act.
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Meanwhile, Government Assurance Committee Chairperson Noel Lipipa has described the development as welcome, saying Mec needs a solid legal framework on which to base its actions.
“In the previous election, Mec used the 50+1 [system] but it wasn’t a law yet since the court just interpreted it. Now there will be a legal framework detailing what happens if 50+1 is not achieved in 2025,” Lipipa said.
In 2020, the Supreme Court of Appeal rejected an appeal by former president Peter Mutharika and the Malawi Electoral Commission and upheld the order for a re-run of the presidential election that had culminated in Mutharika winning a second term.
The court said the 137 grounds in Mutharika’s appeal were fictitious and embarrassing.
This was after Mutharika has amassed 38.7 percent, Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party 34.1 percent and UTM presidential candidate Saulos Chilima 20.2 percent.
Chakwera and Chilima had challenged the results in the Constitutional Court, which ruled that election results be nullified and fresh elections held within 150 days.
Both Mec and Mutharika appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court, which maintained the Constitutional Court’s position.
The Supreme Court also upheld the Constitutional Court’s order that the winner should get at least 50-percent-plus-one of the votes.
However, there was no law outlining how the new voting system would work.
The Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Act was passed in the previous meeting of Parliament and President Lazarus Chakwera assented to it.
