MEC unveils elections dispute resolution framework

MEC chairperson Justice Mtalimanja delivering her statement

* The framework incorporates both mechanisms provided for under electoral laws and alternative dispute resolution methods — promoting efficiency and flexibility in resolving disputes

* MEC will collaborate with other relevant institutions to resolve disputes beyond its jurisdiction, ensuring that all electoral grievances are effectively addressed

By Patience Longwe & Santos Zefania, MANA

Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has unveiled a comprehensive election dispute resolution (EDR) framework that it developed to enhance the management and resolution of electoral complaints, petitions and disputes ahead of September 16, 2025 general elections.

At a press briefing yesterday at Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC), MEC chairperson, Justice Annabel Mtalimanja said the framework aims to strengthen Malawi’s electoral dispute resolution mechanism, ensuring they are effective, functional and responsive to electoral realities.

“The framework incorporates both mechanisms provided for under electoral laws and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods, promoting efficiency and flexibility in resolving disputes,” she said.

MEC will collaborate with other relevant institutions to resolve disputes beyond its jurisdiction, ensuring that all electoral grievances are effectively addressed.

“The Commission remains committed to transparency and stakeholder engagement, encouraging leaders to seek clarification directly from the MEC whenever in doubt,” Mtalimanja said.

She thus urged political leaders and social media influencers to exercise caution and responsibility in their public statements relating to the electoral process — emphasising that “is important to refrain from making unverified claims and spreading misinformation, which can erode public trust in democratic institutions.”

She, therefore, encouraged all stakeholders to engage constructively, communicate responsibly and uphold the value that bind the nation together.

The development of the EDR framework is a significant step towards promoting electoral integrity and stability in Malawi — and by working together, MEC and stakeholders can ensure that the 2025 general elections are conducted in a free, fair, and transparent manner.

Justice Mtalimanja thus assures the public that all necessary systems are in place ahead of September 16, saying they have introduced new measures to enhance the voter verification process, including fingerprint verification systems.

She also clarified that MEC had resolved issues concerning 19 individuals whose registration information had initially gone missing: “Those concerns have been sorted out. As we head toward the general elections, our mandate is clear — to operate as a highly professional electoral management body that delivers credible elections.

Mtalimanja also emphasised inclusivity, noting that MEC has made arrangements to support persons with disabilities to ensure they can vote freely and without intimidation.

On Monday, April 28, MEC had an audience with President Lazarus Chakwera at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe where Mtalimanja presented a report on the state of preparedness for the General Election, which she went on to share its contents at the NECOF meeting.

They include resignation of Commissioner Francis Kasaila on April 23 on personal grounds. He served as chairperson of the media, civic and voter education committee and following his resignation, the composition of commissioners is now five members plus the chairperson — which remains within the minimum

number of members as provided under the Constitution that provides that MEC Commissioners must be composed of not less than four and not more than four members.

Elections operational plan

To properly guide the implementation of the September 16 activities MEC developed and adopted the general elections operational plan, which provides, in sequential order and dates for implementation of all activities and assigns responsibility in terms of implementation agencies.

Based on the elections operational plan, an elections calendar was developed, which is being reviewed from time to time to accommodate emerging issues — and while dates for some activities may change, MEC assures that it maintains the polling date and the 60 day-period set for the official campaign.

Registration of voters

MEC conducted voter registration in three phases from October 21 to December 11, 2024 as well as  supplementary voter registration exercise from January 21 to February 2 2025 — which became necessary to facilitate compliance with an order of the court made on October 25, 2024 to avail voter registration to those citizens that presented themselves for citizenship registration at the registration centres but failed to register as voters for various reasons relating to completeness of their respective registration as citizens with National Registration Bureau (NRB).

Mtalimanja added that currently, the preliminary total number of registered voters, which have been published on MEC’s website, stands at 7,202,756, representing 65.7% of the projected eligible population of 10,957,490 as projected by the National Statistical Office.

During voter registration, MEC also captured disability profiles of the registered voters, to help in planning for polling logistics for the total of 137,925 living with various forms of disabilities — representing about 1.92% of all registered voters. These voters are categorised as a) persons with visual impairments (18,567); b) persons with hearing impairments (13,604); persons with speech impairments (5,361); persons with upper limb disabilities (2,531); and persons with other forms of disabilities (101,981).

Transfer of voters

As per the electoral law, MEC is required  to open centres for processing voter transfers before inspecting and verifying the voters’ registers — which was implemented from February 25 to March 15, 2025.

The eligibility criteria for transferring voter registration records remained consistent with Section 8(1) of the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Act. A voter was only permitted to transfer to a centre in the area where they ordinarily resides or was born or is employed or carries on business.

Transfers by proxy were not permitted as all were conducted in person at the intended new registration centre, which the registered individual intended to use to vote at.

Biometric verification, through fingerprint scanning was employed to confirm the identity of the individual intending to process the transfer, and upon successful transfer, the registered individuals were issued with new voter registration certificates indicating their updated registration centres — whose total was 60,761.

The exercise was not without challenges, said Mtalimanja as MEC recorded 19 cases whereby transfer requests could not be processed at the centre where voter registration records of the individuals could not be retrieved from the preliminary voters’ register.

Owing to the pressure to regain control of the electoral calendar after adapting the operational plan to accommodate the supplementary voter registration, MEC expedited the scheduling of the voter transfer window before all data quality control checks had been finalised.

Following the observed cases of some individuals’ records not being retrieved, MEC instituted a full-scale data quality control exercise to obtain assurance on the completeness of the voter registration data.

Mtalimanja thus reported that:

(i) Out of the total 6,331 registration centres, a total of 6,288 registration centres recorded zero variance, representing 99.3% of the total number of centres. That is, the manually compiled voter registration statistics matched the voter registration data in the electronic database and the preliminary voter register. Therefore, there were no issues that required further action in these centres.

(ii) In 43 registration centres we recorded variances, whereby a total 2,563 voter records were not uploaded onto the database representing 0.67% of the total number of the preliminary total figure of the registered voters and therefore, did not form part of the preliminary voter registration statistics published by MEC.

Failed transfers

To assist the 19 registered voters who were unable to transfer during the initial exercise, MEC conducted a targeted voter transfer exercise on April 15, 2025 in which  15 of the 19 voters successfully presented themselves and completed their transfers.

Inspection and verification of voters register

Pursuant to sections 20 and 21 of the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Act, 2023, Mtalimanja reports that MEC has planned for the inspection and verification of the voters’ register to be made available for public inspection, to provide electoral stakeholders, including voters, political parties, and observers with the opportunity to review and verify all entries in the voters’ register.

The exercise will be conducted in three phases of three days each, from May 13 to May 31 from 08h00-16h00 as follows:

(i) Phase 1: Starting from the May 13-15 in councils of Chitipa, Karonga, Karonga Town, Mzuzu City, Nkhotakota, Ntchisi, Salima, Dedza, Machinga, Chiradzulu, Neno, Phalombe, Balaka and Mulanje;

(ii) Phase 2: from May 21-23 in Nkhata Bay, Rumphi, Likoma, Kasungu, Kasungu Municipality, Dowa, Mchinji, Ntcheu, Zomba, Zomba City, Blantyre, Blantyre City, Thyolo and Luchenza;

(iii) Phase 3: from May 29-31  in Mzimba, Lilongwe, Lilongwe City, Mangochi, Mangochi Municipality, Mwanza, Chikwawa, and Nsanje.

Inspection exercise will be conducted as follows:

i. A registered voter will be expected to go to the centre where he or she registered or transferred to and verify that his or her record is in the voters’ register;

ii. A voter will be expected to present his or her voter registration certificate to a voter inspection and verification officer. This will then be scanned to confirm the voter’s registration.

Alternatively, a voter will present their national identity card for scanning. Where these two documents are not available, a registered voter will confirm their registration by presenting their correct name and date of birth.

This notwithstanding a printed copy of the voters’ register will also be provided at each voter registration centre.

iii. Where evidence of registration, namely a voter registration certificate, does not yield a confirmation for registration, the case will be recorded, and appropriate forms will be filled at the centre to allow for investigation by MEC.

MEC will further provide a copy of the full voters’ register to each one of the 23 registered political parties for their verification at that level. Most importantly, voter inspection and verification is a legally mandated opportunity for political parties to audit and verify that the registered individuals at each registration centre have been accounted for in the printed voters’ register.

MEC will place prescribed forms at all the registration centres to be used by individual voters and political parties to lodge any complaint relating to the entries in the voters’ register at that level. MEC is mandated by law to determine every complaint or appeal relating to the registration of voters before the polling day.

Therefore, Mtalimanja says MEC “is hopeful that the process will be fully utilised by individual voters, political parties, independent candidates and observers to bring to the attention of the Commission all observed irregularities with the voters’ register for due review and determination ahead of publication of the final voters’ register.

Inspection using mobile phones

MEC is also working on enabling the inspection and verification of the voters’ register via mobile phones through which registered voters will be required to dial *2509# and follow the prompts to verify their details by entering either their voter registration number or national ID number.

Mtalimanja emphasised that the primary purpose of the voter register inspection exercise is precisely to identify and address any omissions, or errors, so that appropriate corrections can be made while there is still adequate time to do so.

“It is, therefore, a crucial quality control stage in the electoral process — not evidence of failure,” she said. “We call upon all leaders to encourage their supporters and the general public to actively participate in this important exercise.

“In the unlikely event that individuals do not find their details in the register, we urge them to remain calm and follow the procedures in place for rectifying such situations.

“The Commission appeals to all political and community leaders to play a constructive role in building public confidence in the electoral process. Pre-emptive statements that cast doubt on the credibility of this important phase risk undermining the trust and participation that are essential to the success of any election.”

She reiterate MEC’s commitment to ensuring that “every eligible Malawian who registered is duly included in the voters’ register and, ultimately, able to exercise their right to vote”.

Publication of final voter registration figures

After the inspection of names and verification of the voters’ register, MEC will clean and process the database and produce the final figures of registered voters per centre, ward and constituency. In turn, the official voters’ register will be used to verify whether candidates and their nominators are registered.

The same voters’ registers will also be used for the identification of voters during polling on September 16.

Request for audit of the election management system

Since the official launch of the implementation of activities for the General Election, MEC has been contending with various issues raised by political parties and other electoral stakeholders — raised through various means including letters addressed directly to MEC or through press conferences convened for such purposes.

“In keeping with responsiveness as one of its corporate virtues, the Commission has endeavoured to address all issues and to provide responses, explanations and clarifications as and when required to do so,” Mtalimanja said. “The Commission is committed to maintaining this approach as we continue to implement key electoral activities.”

She highlighted that under section 76 (2) (c) (d) (e) the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi, the Commission has the following mandate:

1. to determine electoral petitions and complaints related to the conduct of any elections;

2. to ensure compliance with the provisions of this Constitution and any Act of Parliament; and

3. to perform such other functions as may be prescribed by this Constitution or an Act of Parliament.

“In as far as the above obligations are concerned the Commission will endeavor to discharge these functions in accordance with the law. Based on what is covered above, the Commission wishes to report that all issues that have so far been raised by electoral stakeholders have been responded to.

One issue she highlighted was the demand that the Election Management System (EMS) most particularly the Voter Registration Module, should be audited, which has been re-echoed in several communications sent to MEC and through press conferences or public rallies.

She assured that MEC “has dealt with this issue and in all its communications regarding and in response to the issue” adding that MEC’s position has been that “such an audit must have a scope and be based on observed irregularities and anomalies observed in the Commission’s electoral processes or data”.

She recalled that the most recent communication from the political parties on the issue of audit of the EMS, dated March 6, 2025, outlines apparent concerns regarding the September 16 electoral processes — which MEC announced in a communication March 19, that it had addressed as follows:

Independent ICT audit

During the series of demonstrations, political parties were informed of the functionalities of the EMDs — that specifically arranged that ICT experts be nominated for that purpose to represent political parties.

The purpose of these sessions was to give opportunity to political parties to obtain, through their technical experts, an appreciation of the functionalities of the EMDs as well as the processes in the Voter Registration Module of the Election Management System.

MEC will continue with this approach as the other modules in the Election Management System, including (1) inspection and verification of the voters’ register; (2) nomination of candidates; and (3) results management, fall due for implementation.

MEC has reservations regarding a no-scope independent ICT audit, in the manner that political parties have been calling for, as such an unframed audit presents legitimate security concerns that may impact the integrity of the system as well as the potential to risk possible violation of the intellectual property rights of the technology owners.

Upon clear and specific request for a scoped audit being submitted, Mtalimanja reported that MEC will consider such a request but so far it has not received any such request from any of the political parties or electoral stakeholders.

She also indicated that MEC is aware that some electoral stakeholders have cited the  pollster’s engagement of BDO in the 2019 Tripartite Elections, as justification for their call for an audit of the EMS, saying “BDO was specifically contracted to conduct an agreed upon procedure of Malawi 2019 Tripartite Elections.

It was to verify that the results received at the constituency tally centres and the national tally centre are mathematically correct results before MEC makes an official announcement of the results.

She thus urged electoral stakeholders “to refrain from making parallels on matters that do not have comparable or similar terms of reference” and she reaffirmed MEC’s position that “any such audit of election management system, must be based on a clearly defined scope, anchored on specific irregularities or anomalies”.

“Without such a scoped request, and in view of potential security risks the Commission cannot accede to demands for an unframed audit. As of today, no formal request for a scoped audit has been received from any political party or electoral stakeholder.

“Secondly, if parallels were to be made on the audit that was done by the BDO, then the meeting will appreciate that the determination of the audit will in any case have to be made by the Commission as was the case in 2019.

Nomination of candidates

In accordance with Section 29(2)(a) and (b) and Section 40(2)(a) and (b) of the Presidential, Parliamentary, and Local Government Elections Act, 2023,

Mtalimanja explained that MEC is required to determine nomination fees six months before the date of candidate nomination.

Thus on November 11, 2024, MEC determined the nomination fees for contesting candidates as President (K10 million); Member of Parliament (K2.5 million for male candidates and K1.25 million for females); K1.25 million for persons with disabilities); K1.25 million for youths (under 35 years).

Councillor at K200,000 for male candidates; K100,000 for females; K100,000 for persons with disabilities; and K100,000 for youths (under 35 years).

Under Sections 29(1) and 40(1) of the Act, candidates will be required to pay the non-refundable nomination fees, through a dedicated bank account, before collecting nomination forms, which — according to the revised electoral calendar — will commence on June 10, 2025 at respective district council offices forMOs and councillors.

Nomination forms for Presidential candidates will be collected from the MEC head office and in cases where political parties would wish to pay for and collect nomination forms on behalf of their candidates, the parties will need to make special arrangements through MEC’s Chief Elections Officer. The same will also apply if other would wish to pay nomination fees for some candidates.

MEC plans to receive Local Government elections nomination papers from June 20-22 at respective constituency tally centres; Parliamentary’s from and Presidential from July 1-5 at a venue yet to be identified in Lilongwe.—Additional reporting by Duncan Mlanjira, Maravi Express