European Union (EU) Ambassador Rune Skinnebach says management of processes between now and voting day is key to an inclusive, credible and transparent vote in the September 16 General Election.
The envoy said this yesterday in Lilongwe during a media breakfast the EU organised ahead of Europe Day commemoration on May 9, which coincides with the 75th anniversary of European integration.
He said: “Personally, I always say we can focus a lot on the electoral process, but what really matters for democracy is what happens in between.
“To which extent are the constituencies, the people of Malawi, able to hold those in power accountable? To which extent are the people of Malawi able not only to enjoy their democratic rights, but also to carry out their democratic duties?”
During the interaction, Skinnebach also announced that the EU will deploy an elections observer mission to monitor the pre-election and voting processes under three pillars of inclusiveness, credibility and transparency.
He said as per tradition, a public statement and final report with recommendations will follow the team’s assessment.
However, Skinnebach clarified that the mission’s role is not to validate results, but to evaluate the electoral processes.
“The EU’s final report aims to strengthen future elections through actionable insights,” he said.
Skinnebach’s clarification comes in the wake of the disputed 2019 Tripartite Elections whose presidential vote results were nullified by the High Court of Malawi sitting as a Constitutional Court after observers from the EU, Commonwealth and Southern African Development Community (Sadc), among others, had declared the polls “free, fair and credible”.
But opposition parties and civil society organisations faulted the observers’ assessment at the time, describing it as rushed and rehearsed.
Reacting to Skinnebach’s comments yesterday, Centre for Multiparty Democracy executive director Boniface Chibwana agreed that stakeholder engagement is key.
“When we talk of credibility of an election, it entails that every voice of stakeholders is taken on board while adhering to the legal framework. The electoral management body has to be as inclusive as possible in discharging its duties,” he said.
In a separate interview, Nyika Institute executive director Moses Mkandawire said elections are complex, as such, it is important that all activities, processes and institutions that manage and administer elections should be inclusive, transparent and accountable.
He said it is good that the EU plans to send their observers, but added that given the short-term nature of EU election observer missions, it would be important for them to work with local observers to clearly appreciate the political, legal, social and cultural environment leading to Election Day, during election and post-election.
Said Mkandawire: “It is also important to ensure coordination of the information that they would be gathering to avoid biased analysis, including dissemination of their findings. Let us learn that their last time involvement was full of controversies largely because of the methodology that they used.”
The EU contributed three million euro (about K3.5 billion) to the Multi-donor 2025 Elections Basket Fund through its flagship Malawi Democratic Governance Project.
Malawi Government spent about K44 billion on the May 21 2019 Tripartite Elections that involved seven presidential candidates, 1 331 parliamentary candidates, 2 615 local government aspirants and about 6 859 570 voters.
Following the nullification of the presidential election and a court order for a fresh election, Parliament allocated K29 billion for the polls held on June 23 2020. Initially, Malawi Electoral Commission had pegged the fresh presidential election budget at K38 billion.
