Four new poll bills on cards

The Ministry of Justice has finalised working on four fresh electoral law amendment proposals for debate in the current sitting of Parliament, but there is no room for all the previous electoral Bills earlier shot down by the august House.

The four electoral Bills set to be tabled in Parliament include the Constitutional Amendment Bill to change the name of MEC in the Constitution, Electoral Commission Act (Amendment) Bill to change the name of MEC in the Act and the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Bill to harmonise all electoral laws. The other is the Assumption to the Office of President (Transitional Arrangements) Bill.

Ministry of Justice spokesperson Pirirani Masanjala confirmed in an interview on last week Saturday that the ministry had finalised reviewing the four Bills but are now expected to be submitted to the Cabinet Office for consideration.

“Subject to all the necessary approvals relating to Bills, the plan is to have the Bills tabled in the current sitting of Parliament,” said Masanjala in a written response.

However, Masanjala said the ministry was currently dealing with only the four proposed electoral law amendments, which were developed and submitted by the National Task Force on Electoral Reforms.

The task force, co-led by the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) and Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD), drafted about 30 electoral law amendment proposals but only four were submitted to the ministry.

This means all the electoral Bills which were presented and rejected by Parliament, including those that former president Peter Mutharika refused to assent to will not be discussed during this sitting.

These bills include Electoral Commission Act Amendment Bill of 2020, Electoral Commission Act Amendment Bill 2 of 2020, Presidential and Parliamentary Elections Act (PPEA) Amendment Bill and the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections Act Amendment Bill 2 of 2020.

Among others, the new bills propose swearing-in the President-Elect after 30 days, and making polling day a public holiday.

It has also proposed a reduction in the voting time from the current 12 hours—running from 6am to 6pm—to one that starts at 6am and closing at 3pm.

Other proposed reforms include the removal of the 60-day official campaign period, fixing the holding of by-elections to quarterly basis and that constituency boundaries review should be conducted after 10 years, instead of the current five years.

MEC director of legal services David Matumika Banda said in an interview the commission was hoping the draft bills would be tabled before Parliament during the current sitting of Parliament.

“The commission’s sincere expectation is that the bills will be presented before Parliament during this session of Parliament.

“What has been presented to the Ministry of Justice are totally new draft Bills. It is possible, however that some of the proposals being made may coincide with what may have already been submitted before Parliament in the past efforts,” said Matumika Banda.

The Electoral Commission Act Amendment bills, among others, give powers to Parliament to scrutinise potential MEC commissioners before they are sent to the President for consideration.

The Presidential and Parliamentary Elections Act Amendment Bill provides May 19 2020 as the date for the fresh presidential election, and that the next general elections will be held on May 19 2025.

The bills also provide for a run-off election in the event that no candidate gets 50 percent+one of the votes cast.

Mutharika withheld assent to the bills because he claimed they were in conflict with various Constitutional provisions and other laws governing the conduct of elections in the country.

Some major political parties have said they expect the bills to be tabled before the current sitting of Parliament so that MEC applies them during the 2025 general elections.

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) spokesperson the Rev Maurice Munthali said as a party, they were happy that the bills were finally ready because “we are probably the only party that can speak to the injustice being addressed which we and our followers bore the brunt of while in opposition which these bills now are designed to remove”.

“For example, the absence of a law governing the ascension process on change of President after an election offered an unhindered opportunity of abuse of office and public resources to a sitting President who had lost an election, and nothing could be done by the incoming President and his team to stop it.

“So, our expectation as a party in general is that the amendments will help bring in more uniformity from the merger of the Parliamentary and Presidential Elections Act and the Local Government Elections Act into one Act for the election of the President, Members of Parliament and Councillors,” said Munthali.

He said it was better to deal with the three elections under one law as they are held together or simultaneously as one tripartite election.

“It will also help in dealing with or resolving electoral disputes easier because the rules will be the same or with very slight modifications. Our ultimate expectation as a party is that the Bills will be passed by Parliament,” he said.

“We are hoping that these Bills will all be tabled during this sitting of Parliament, but a lot will depend on how soon they pass through Cabinet stages to be published in the Gazette for tabling in the National Assembly.”

On his part, Peoples Party (PP) spokesperson Ackson Kalaile Banda also said his party was expecting the bills to be finalised and be in use come 2025.

“We expect them to come before Parliament as soon as possible because we are looking at the 2025 polls,” he said.

UTM Party publicity secretary Frank Mwenifumbo said the party feels the bills are important and “we have no problem with them and we shall support them in parliament”.

“We are ready to support them and if there will be any other adjustments we will do it accordingly through amendments. We are very positive about these reforms.”

Democratic Progressive Party spokesperson on legal issues Bright Msaka also said as a party they are ready to support the bills once they are brought to Parliament.

National Elections Systems Trust (Nest) executive director Unandi Banda said the tabling of the Bills was a welcome development for all voters.

However, he said before the ministry could move to the next stage it needs to take the final views from critical stakeholders like political parties, civil society organisations, faith based organisations.

“The political landscape is changing rapidly in this country. The above mentioned groupings have to be given a chance to comment on the proposed submissions before they can land into the hands our Cabinet,” said Banda.