MEC upbeat on Parliament adopting demarcation dossier
The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has expressed optimism that Parliament will approve its demarcation of wards and constituencies report despite some political parties’ opposition.
Addressing a press conference in Lilongwe on Saturday, MEC commissioner Olivia Mchaju Liwewe said rejecting the report would be a shame to democracy.
The report is expected to be tabled on October 1 2022. The redemarcation plan will expand the National Assembly from 193 to 228 seats.
“It is the parliamentarians that have been giving us the resources to conduct the activities. Even now they are giving us the funds to finalise the process. It will be a waste of resources for the report to be rejected.
“On our part, we are happy to have conducted an exercise so diligently and so passionately and come up with the report. In terms of activities, we have actually achieved,” said Liwewe, who chairs MEC’s Electoral Service Committee.
In redrawing the constituencies and wards, MEC said it considered population, ease of communication and geographical elements.
“This is something that has happened after 26 years and it will be a shame for democracy as well because demographics keep changing, therefore, you cannot have a member of Parliament [MP] with 7000 voters against an MP who has 150 000 voters sitting in the same place,” Liwewe said.
MEC’s press conference was aimed at updating the country that it will start conducting public hearings on the maps and names of the constituencies today. Later, it will file a preliminary report to Parliament.
“During the public hearings, the preliminary maps will be once more displayed for the last time for stakeholders to view.
“Thereafter, all stakeholders present will be given an opportunity to give their final feedback on the preliminary maps for the commission to consider when drawing the final maps,” Liwewe said.
While other parties represented in Parliament support the National Assembly expansion, the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party wants the constituencies to remain at 193.
The former governing party argues that money for paying new MPs can best be used to grow infrastructure or for the industrialisation and commercialisation of the agriculture sector in line with Malawi 2063.
