By Pemphero Malimba:
Facing an onslaught from opposition political parties on impartiality, the Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) has pressed for dialogue to iron out all concerns ahead of the September 16 2025 Local Government, Parliamentary and Presidential Elections.
The commission has since scheduled a national conference for Tuesday.
It will be held in Lilongwe.
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Mec communications officer Richard Mveriwa confirmed the development Sunday.
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Mveriwa said the conference would bring together Mec officials, civil society organisations and faith groups from across the country.
“We want to ensure transparency, peer trust and enhance community mobilisation for upcoming electoral activities.
“As you are aware, we are currently conducting voter registration exercises. As such, we thought it wise that we should engage these religious and civil society organisation (CSO) leaders to clear out the issues that are being raised out there,” Mveriwa said.
He said the commission was aware of the concerns recently raised by political parties and other electoral stakeholders.
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“It has also been noted that different stakeholders have started issuing statements commenting on electoral matters and the commission considered all these factors to come up with this meeting so that it clears out all the issues that have been raised by civil society organisations, political parties and religious groupings,” he said.
The faith groups include quasi-religious body Public Affairs Committee (Pac), Catholic Church and Anglican Church bishops, Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM), Quadria Muslim Association of Malawi (Qmam) and Muslim Association of Malawi (Mam).
On the other hand, the CSOs include the Malawi Electoral Support Network (Mesn), Women’s Legal Resource Centre (Worlec), Youth And Society and the Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC).
Mam spokesperson Sheikh Dinala Chabulika described the meeting as crucial, considering that contact and dialogue go a long way in uniting people in the country.
“We believe in contact and dialogue. As such, this [meeting] is a very important forum because that is where people come together and agree on one thing.
“The Malawi Electoral Commission is there to make sure that Malawians are going to have free and fair elections. So, it is very important that we go there and attend [the meeting] and agree on one thing so that, at the end of the day, we are one nation,” Chabulika said.
HRCC Chairperson Robert Mkwezalamba also commended Mec for organising the meeting.
“The forum will offer the public an opportunity to understand the truth about all the allegations that are being made.
“Our expectation is that Mec will leave no stone unturned and they will bring evidence and share with us all the processes that the chairperson [Judge Annabel Mtalimanja] has been able to elaborate on,” Mkwezalamba said.
Recently, opposition political parties such as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), UTM, United Democratic Front (UDF) and Alliance for Democracy (Aford) asked Mec to reconsider its decision to use electronic transmission of results.
They also expressed reservations over the use of election management devices (EMDs) which were supplied by a company called Smartmatic, alleging that equipment supplied by the company had issues in elections done in some countries where the equipment was used.
The opposition parties have also been calling for the engagement of independent information communications technology (ICT) auditors in electoral processes.
However, the stand of Mec chairperson Mtalimanja that the commission would proceed with the current setup has been fueling anger on the opposition side.
The opposition parties have gone to the extent of demanding Mtalimanja’s resignation on impartiality concerns.
Mtalimanja has, in turn, assured stakeholders that the issue of impartiality does not arise.
She has reaffirmed her commitment to the holding of free and fair elections, saying she was one of the three judges that were duly nominated by the Judicial Service Commission, after which President Lazarus Chakwera appointed her.
The process leading up to the appointment of a Mec chairperson does not entail the President directly appointing a judge to chair the commission; it is JSC has nominates at least three judges from whom the Mec chairperson is chosen.
