MEC further pursuing High Court’s assessment on relocation for proper and definitive constitutional determination

* The matter was dismissed on procedural grounds and that the substantive constitutional issues raised were not determined by the Court

* On this premise, the Commission has resolved that the issues, being constitutional in nature, must be properly and definitively determined by the Court

By Duncan Mlanjira

Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) indicates that it is pursuing further the application for judicial review it made seeking a definitive court clarification on whether the directive by President Arthur Peter Mutharika to relocate its Head Office “does not constitute unlawful interference with its independence in the discharge of its duties, functions and powers — as prescribed by the Republic’s Constitution and the Malawi Electoral Commission Act”.

In a statement, MEC reminds the public that on February 27, 2026, the High Court dismissed MEC’s judicial review application and following its meeting on April 2, 2026, the Commission reviewed the implications of the ruling and noted that “the matter was dismissed on procedural grounds and that the substantive constitutional issues raised were not determined by the Court”.

“On this premise, the Commission has resolved that the issues, being constitutional in nature, must be properly and definitively determined by the Court. In this regard, the Commission is taking appropriate legal steps to ensure that these matters are conclusively determined.”

In his Executive Order No.1 of 2025, President Mutharika directed that MEC should relocate its head office from Lilongwe to Blantyre, as well as emerging developments concerning its continued occupation of its current premises at Chisankho House at City Centre in Lilongwe.

MEC went ahead to seek the judicial review and it did not relocate to Blantyre and administered the recent by-elections from Chisankho House — thus “in order to safeguard its integrity, continuity, and independence, the Commission will continue to operate from its current Head Office in Lilongwe pending the determination of these constitutional issues”.

The statement adds that on April 7, 2026, the Ministry of Lands, Housing & Urban Development communicated its decision not to renew the lease for Chisankho House and “in light of the ongoing unresolved constitutional questions and in the absence of a Commission resolution to relocate the head office, the Commission has advised the Ministry that it will continue to occupy the current premises”.

“This continued occupation will ensure continuity of operations as well as safeguarding of the independence and integrity of the Commission,” says the statement, while assuring the general public that it “remains fully committed to discharging its constitutional mandate independently, impartially, and without undue interference”.

“All decisions being taken are guided by the need to uphold the rule of law and to ensure the stability and integrity of electoral processes in Malawi,” says the statement.

MEC’s challenge to the Executive Order was deemed by political think tank Jones Gadama and others back in January as “ostensibly questioning the legality of the President’s directive” and that it “raises serious concerns about the integrity and political motivations behind MEC’s actions”.

“It is especially striking when viewed in the context of the Commission’s unquestioning acceptance of a previous relocation initiated by former President Lazarus Chakwera, who transferred the MEC headquarters from Blantyre to Lilongwe. 

“Why, then, does MEC now choose to challenge the President’s order? Is this not a blatant political maneuver that threatens to erode respect for executive authority and disrupt national governance?” opined Gadama on social media.

But the Republic’s Constitution says; “the High Court shall have jurisdiction to entertain applications for judicial review of the exercise by the Malawi Electoral Commission of its powers and functions to ensure that such powers and functions were duly exercised in accordance with this Constitution or any Act of Parliament”.

It emphasises that MEC “shall exercise its powers, functions and duties…independent of any direction or interference by other authority or any person”.

President Mutharika’s Executive Order No. 1 of 2025, issued just five days after his inauguration, commanded the relocation of various institutional headquarters, including MEC’s, as part of a broader effort to rationalise government operations and correct past administrative anomalies.

When MEC adhered to President Chakwera’s order in 2023 for government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), it relocated-the-head-office-into-MPICO’s-Development-House-in-Lilongwe/ awaiting the construction of its purpose-built offices that was in progress.

At the official commissioning of the Head Office in August 2023, former MEC chairperson, Justice Dr. Chifundo Kachale indicated that over the years, various stakeholders presented arguments advocating for MEC’s relocation to Lilongwe for a multitude of reasons, whose debate dates back to the establishment of the secretariat itself.

He had said in its independent assessment, MEC had “consistently recognised the potential positive impact of relocating the Head Office to Lilongwe, given its central geographic location within the country”.

“As early as 2001, the Commission took proactive steps by submitting an application to the Ministry of Lands for the allocation of a plot in Lilongwe, intended for the construction of its Head Office and associated structures.

“Relocation was one of MEC’s strategic ambitions in the recently expired strategic document launched in 2017. Within such a historic context, it gives me great pleasure to share news that through the dedicated efforts of the Commission’s Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation Committee over the past three years, extensive planning and meaningful engagement with pertinent stakeholders have been undertaken in preparation for the relocation to Lilongwe.

“Our engagement with the Government, facilitated by the Ministry of Lands, Housing & Urban Development, has resulted in the allocation of a parcel of land designated for the purpose-built MEC offices and warehouses in Lilongwe,” said Kachale in 2023.