Malawi Peace and Unity Commission has highlighted public mistrust of Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC), political violence, voter registration and the 2019 election precedent as contentious issues threatening the September 16 General Election.
The commission’s coordinator Dyton Kang’oma said this during a presentation yesterday in Mzuzu at a dialogue aimed at achieving credible elections. The dialogue was organised by Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) and African Union (AU).
He said the 2025 elections are cast in precedent of the court-nullified 2019 presidential election over irregularities and the 2020 court-sanctioned fresh presidential election, especially in view of identical issues such as demonstrations led by the civil society and questions about the integrity of the electoral body.
Kang’oma said emphasis on the qualitative aspects of Malawi’s elections in the judgement of the High Court of Malawi sitting as the Constitutional Court in February 2020 created grounds for challenging the upcoming election’s outcomes.
“There are perceptions of potential bias by MEC chief elections officer and chairperson. While potential bias has been alleged, it is not proven yet and awaits evidence. That still forms part of the context of the September 16 2025 General Election,” he said.
Kang’oma further observed that voter registration is another contentious issue considering that the number of registrants declined to 65.7 percent for the September 16 2025 General Election from 80 percent in the 2019 Tripartite Elections.
In her keynote address to the three-day workshop, commissioner Mwandida Theu said during a pre-election assessment that Comesa and AU carried out in April 2025 several issues were identified, including heightened levels of mistrust of MEC by electoral stakeholders, inadequate engagement between MEC and political parties and incidences of political violence.
She said: “These are real threats to peaceful and credible elections. It is important that we reflect on how these issues play out at both national and regional levels.”
Comesa representative Claudia Masah said in an interview that the meetings offer a platform for stakeholders to question the relevant bodies on contentious issues and brainstorm home-grown solutions that can be used at district, regional and national levels.
On political violence, she revealed capacity building for MEC by the AU, Comesa and International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance has also benefitted Malawi’s security agencies ahead of the elections.
Nyika Institute executive director Moses Mkandawire, who was part of the discussions, said elections are a process not an event; hence, the need for dialogue and drawing lessons from the 2025 election.
The issues of distribution of handouts and political violence came out tops during the discussions which drew participants from political parties, civil society, clergy, traditional leaders and local government authorities.
In his contribution, Alliance for Democracy regional chairperson (North) Denis Mhone lamented that politicians and parties continue to distribute handouts despite having a law prohibiting the same.
