UN pushes for electoral reforms

The United Nations (UN) has urged Malawi to push ahead with electoral reforms to enhance the country’s democracy despite political risks associated with the exercise.

UNDP country representative Mia Seppo made the call yesterday in Lilongwe during the opening ceremony of first technical working group’s meeting on the reform process.

Civil society groups and political parties are pushing for the electoral reforms following chaotic tripartite elections held last year which were marred by several irregularities and resulted in several court challenges.

Said Seppo:  “The vagueness of the current legislation greatly affected the electoral process that Malawi went through in May 2014.

“The national conference noted that the majority of the disputes have revolved around the interpretation of the laws; this is a sign that our laws are either ambiguous, lack of clarity and precision, perpetuate injustice, absurdity or unreasonableness, run counter to popular expectations or fail to provide for unforeseen eventualities.”

Seppo warned that leaving misalignments in the current laws unaddressed would impede progress and development in the country observing that electoral reforms have been a recurring subject during the post election period since 1999.

Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson Maxon Mbendera stressed that reforms are a result of demands by the people of the country through several electoral stakeholders.

Said Mbendera:  “The reforms are not a result of desk review. The people of this country through their representatives in the electoral arena are the ones who have advanced the need for reforms in these areas. This is a result of extensive consultations that went as far as the grass-roots.”

The reforms, being spearheaded by the Malawi Electoral Support Network (Mesn), are expected to culminate into new laws following a series of consultative meetings including a national conference and are supported by the UNDP.