The Civil Society Elections Integrity Forum (CSEIF) – a coalition of civil society organizations devoted to good governance in Malawi – has commended President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera for assenting today to the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections (Amendment) Bill No. 23 of 2025.
The law aims to safeguard the right to vote for essential groups, including security agents, and empowered the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) to proceed with seamless logistical planning and deployment in advance of the 16th September 2025 General Elections.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, CSEIF National Chairperson Benedicto Kondowe said Chakwera’s decisive act brings resolution to a matter that dominated the engagement between the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) and accredited observers at the Bingu International Conference Centre on 2nd September 2025.
CSEIF had cautioned at the meeting that the delayed assent threatened to derail the lawful and timely deployment of polling staff, security personnel, and party or candidate representatives, placing both logistics and electoral credibility at risk.
Kondowe therefore breathed a sigh of relief, stressing that with the critical categories now expressly secured under the amendment, Malawians can now fully exercise their constitutional right to vote while performing their official electoral duties.
“By assenting to this law, the President has safeguarded the right to vote for these essential groups, averted a constitutional crisis, and empowered MEC to proceed with seamless logistical planning and deployment in advance of the 16th September 2025 General Elections,” he said.
Kondowe committed his forum’s readiness to support comprehensive electoral reforms after the 16th September 2025 General Elections to ensure that other legitimate categories of citizens omitted from the current amendment, such as accredited media personnel, accredited observers, students, and prisoners, are expressly provided for and guaranteed the enjoyment of their constitutional right to vote in the 2030 and subsequent elections.