Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has revised the arrangement for submission of nominations for presidential, parliamentary and local government elections to align with the dissolution of Parliament and local government authorities.
Following the change, candidates for all the three elections will now submit their nomination papers ahead of the September 16 General Election from July 24 to 30.
Initially, the nomination papers for local government polls were due for submission from June 20 to 22 while for presidential and parliamentary elections it was from July 1 to 5.
But briefing the media in Lilongwe yesterday, MEC chairperson Annabel Mtalimanja said the changes were made to align the process to the dissolution of Parliament and local government authorities on July 23.
She said: “The commission has considered desirable that the nomination process be aligned with the dissolution of the National Assembly as provided under Section 67(1) of the Constitution, which also sets the date of polling and section 147 (5) of the Constitution which provide for the dissolution of local government authorities on 23rd July 2025.”
Mtalimanja, a judge of the High Court of Malawi, said the list of nominated candidates will be published by August 8 2025 in the Malawi Government Gazette, at least two newspapers of general circulation and also broadcast on national radio.
She also announced that the official campaign period will run for 60 days from July 14 to September 14 2025 at 6AM.
In an interview later, MEC spokesperson Sangwani Mwafulirwa said fixing the submission period after the dissolution of Parliament and local authorities will ensure that everyone contesting in the election make the submissions as mere candidates.
During previous elections, only presidential aspirants were required to step down from parliamentary positions to present nomination papers before dissolution of Parliament.
