Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) will from today to Wednesday host an Electoral Commissions Forum of Southern African Development Community (ECF-Sadc) member States’ chief electoral officers (CEOs) and executive committee meetings in Lilongwe.
MEC announced on Friday in a statement that the meetings provide a platform for knowledge exchange, regional collaboration and strategic planning aimed at enhancing the delivery of democratic and credible elections in the Sadc region.
Reads the statement: “The CEOs’ meeting will bring together Heads of Electoral Management Bodies [EMBs] and members of the executive committee made of seven member commissions including Malawi Electoral Commission.”
The statement quoted MEC chairperson Annabel Mtalimanja, who described the meetings as important.
“Hosting these important meetings reflects our commitment not only to our national mandate, but also to regional cooperation in strengthening democratic electoral processes.
“These engagements provide valuable space for sharing lessons, addressing common challenges and advancing electoral professionalism,” she said.
The statement said the executive committee of the forum implements policy decisions of the annual general conference and that the meetings in the country will discuss a wide range of issues.
Among the issues set to be discussed pertaining to partnerships with other international organisations, strategies, priorities of the forum including resource mobilisation and use of digital tools in elections.
Further reads the statement: “The meetings shall give a platform to member commissions conducting elections in 2025 to make presentations on their state of preparedness. These include electoral commissions of Malawi, Seychelles, Tanzania and Zanzibar.”
According to the statement, the ECF-Sadc is an independent organisation comprising EMBs in Sadc member States and it was constituted in July 1998, operating with a structure that includes the conference, the executive committee and secretariat.
The forum plays a critical role in promoting free, fair and credible elections within the region and it is further committed to promoting best practices in electoral management, facilitating information exchange among electoral commissions and advocating for electoral reforms to enhance democracy within the Sadc region.
Besides, the forum is also a legal entity constituted of electoral commissions of Sadc member States such as MEC, National Electoral Commission of Angola, Independent Electoral Commission of Botswana, National Independent Electoral Commission of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Elections and Boundaries Commission of the Kingdom of eSwatini and Independent Electoral Commission of Lesotho.
Others include the Office of the Electoral Commissioner of Mauritius, National Electoral Commission of Mozambique, Electoral Commission of Namibia, Electoral Commission of Seychelles, Electoral Commission of South Africa, Electoral Commission of Zambia, Zanzibar Electoral Commission, Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the National Independent Electoral Commission of Tanzania.
