The Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) Monday gave political parties and independent aspirants 60 days to go out and impress Malawians with transformative ideas ahead of the September 16, 2025 Local Government, Parliamentary and Presidential Elections.
Mec Chairperson, Judge Annabel Mtalimanja, launched the official campaign period for the elections in Lilongwe Monday.
Mtalimanja said political campaigning remained a critical pillar of the democratic electoral process as it offers candidates and political parties a constitutionally protected platform to present and promote their manifestos, articulate policy positions and engage the public on national and local development agendas.
“It is a marketplace of ideas where candidates promote their vision, plans and their capacity lead on the topical issues to the citizens. Campaigns enrich the electoral process by enabling voters to make rational, better-informed choices at the ballot box,” Mtalimanja said.
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She observed that during the 60 days period, all contesting candidates and political parties are free to openly promote themselves to the electorate in their targeted electoral areas and, indeed, across the country.
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“Accordingly, endeavour to present to the electorate the substance of your manifestos and aspirations and not focus on personalised attacks, castigations and the promotion of hate speech.
“The electorate are weary of non-topical rhetoric, ad hominem attacks and hate speech and, therefore, do not be surprised if people will start shunning your rallies should you continue with campaign efforts that are not focused on addressing issues that the electorate are considering to be pivotal for the future of the country,” Mtalimanja said.
According to Mtalimanja, with decades of experience in participating in elections, Malawians have matured politically and now fully appreciate the power of their vote.
“The electorate understand that their vote is their voice, their future and their power to shape the destiny of the nation.
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“Against this background, the official campaign period is not merely a formality. It is a defining moment for political parties and candidates to either make or break their prospects,” Mtalimanja said.
The Mec chairperson said the electoral body would deploy Biometric Voter Identification (BIV) technology on polling day to verify the identity of voters. She said the system uses fingerprint scans to confirm that a person presenting themselves to vote is, indeed, the registered voter they claim to be.
Mtalimanja insisted that voting would be done manually; that is, by hand.
“For 2025, the commission will adopt a hybrid results transmission approach, combining manual delivery of the physical result sheets and the electronic transmission of scanned copies and computer-generated results sheets to the National Tally Centre.
“This dual method enhances accuracy and safeguards the vote through cross verification, which will be made possible by utilising these two processes,” she said.
During the launch, Registrar of Political Parties Kizito Tenthani warned politicians against giving out private goods [goods which benefit individuals personally] during the campaign period, saying that it is forbidden by the elections Code of Conduct.
Tenthani cited the splashing of money, branded flour and branded soap to entice the electorate to vote for a particular candidate as one of the conducts that the code is forbidding.
He, however, said giving transport money to campaign team members to facilitate easy preparations of rallies is allowed under the Code of Conduct.
Tenthani was quick to warn politicians against splashing money on people who will be attending rallies in the disguise of giving transport money to campaign teams, saying the law will catch up with them.
Centre for Multiparty Democracy Chairperson Ben Chakhame said during the campaign period, political parties and independent candidates are going into the battle field not to fight their personalities but to sell their respective development agendas for the country.
“We are not going out to physically manhandle each other but, rather, to compete on who has the best solutions for the many challenges Malawians are continuing facing, 61 years after independence.
“We are not going out there to prove to people that we come from the same compound but rather to show that we can bring this country and its people together. We are not going out there to prove that we are more prayerful than the others but, rather, to prove that true love for one another is key to sustain peace and harmony in this country,” Chakhame said.
He urged the contestants to go out there with one common purpose to shame the devil.
“We have seen persistent violence in some parts of the country. Let us shame the devil by sawing seeds of peace and love rather than hatred.
“A 5 watts bulb will not gain extra light because we have switched off a 10 watts bulb. Therefore, a fight or causing physical harm to a fellow countryman or woman will not gain us an extra vote; rather, we may lose some [votes]. Let us walk this last leg peacefully and let’s hold hands to shame the devil. A peaceful campaign period is possible and it begins with everyone of us individually,” he said.
Malawi Police Service Deputy Inspector General Noel Kayira said the law enforcers were committed to ensuring that peace prevails throughout the campaign period.
Kayira said through close collaboration with stakeholders, including politicians, it was possible for Malawi to hold violence-free elections.
A total of 7,203,390 people, representing 65.7 percent of the total number of eligible voters projected at 10,957,490 by the National Statistical Office, are registered to cast their votes on September 16.
Out of this figure, 4,114,720 voters are female and 3,088,670 are male.
