Ministry of Justice says three electoral reforms Bills, including a provision to facilitate the holding of a second election in the event of failure to achieve 50 percent-plus-one will be tabled in Parliament in November.

In a statement after a meeting between Minister of Justice Titus Mvalo and Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) on Friday, MEC chief elections officer Andrew Mpesi said besides inquiring on Bills, during the meeting they also called on the government to start funding the institution in the current financial year to start preparations for the 2025 Tripartite Elections.

The Bills to be gazetted this month are the Constitutional (Amendment), Electoral Commission Act (Amendment) and Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections .The Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Bill seeks to introduce a new and comprehensive legal framework for the regulation of all elections in Malawi.

Reads a summary: “Further, the Bill is providing for the holding of a second election in the event that the first presidential election does not produce a candidate that satisfied the 50 percent plus one vote threshold as set by the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi.”

Mpesi said the Bill has also harmonised and consolidated provisions in the Parliamentary and Presidential Elections Act as well as the Local Government Elections Act into one piece of legislation.

Mvalo, on the other hand, committed to push for the gazetting of the Electoral Law Reform Bills to ensure adherence to timelines set in the Standing Orders of Parliament. The Standing Orders stipulate that a Bill should be circulated 28 days before being deliberated upon.

Meanwhile, National Electoral Systems Trust executive director Unandi Banda has said the passage of the Bills is long overdue. “It is our prayer that the legislators from both sides of the aisle look at the Bills without a political lens, but look at them with national interests,” he said.

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