By Cathy Maulidi:
With 427 days to go before polling day, which is September 16 2025, the Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) has announced next year’s election calendar.
The highlight is that the elections will be launched in Lilongwe on August 2 2024.
Mec Chairperson Judge Anabel Mtalimanja presided over the event.
“The theme for the 2025 general election is ‘Promoting Democratic Leadership through Your Vote’.
“This theme is a powerful reminder to all Malawians of the foundational role that voting plays in a democracy. As it is often emphasised, voting is not only a right but also civic duty that both empowers and obligates citizens to influence the direction of their country.” Mtalimanja said.
Mtalimanja also announced that there would be a demonstration to stakeholders and pilot voter registration since Mec is, this time, using new Election Management Devices (EMDs).
She said political parties, the media, development partners, civil society organisations (CSOs) and information communication experts would be allowed to witness the demonstration exercise.
“These meetings are planned to start from July 31 2024 and run up to August 16 2024. The pilot voter registration process is intended to test the devices, solidify their usability and agility and draw lessons before the commencement of voter registration.
“I should say, with emphasis, that everyone who will participate in the pilot voter registration will also be required to register as a voter when the actual voter registration starts,” Mtalimanja said.
She added that there would be fresh registration of voters for the 2025 elections because of re-demarcation of constituencies and wards that the commission conducted after Parliament endorsed the move.
“The fresh voter registration will eliminate deceased voters (those that would have died before the commencement of registration) in the voter register, thus ensuring accuracy and integrity of the register,” she said.
As a result of the review of constituency and ward boundaries, starting from the 2025 election, the country will have 229 constituencies, up from 193 and 509 wards—up from 462—which means that there will be over 1,000 new centres that will need to be populated with voters.
The commission also announced that political party leaders and aspiring candidates and CSOs can, from August 1 2024, start submitting accredited names of representatives and observers for the voter registration process.
Proof of nationality during the voter registration exercise remains the national ID.
“In accordance with Section 12 of the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Act, a person who is eligible to be registered as a voter in an election shall, as proof of eligibility, present in person to a registration officer, proof of his or her national registration issued by the National Registration Bureau. In terms of the National Registration Act, this is the National ID,” Mtalimanja said.
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