The Malawi Congress Party (MCP) has expressed discontent with the omission, by the Special Law Commission on the Review of Electoral Laws, of recommendations for the provision of constituency tally centres and relocation of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) headquarters.
MCP Director of Election Maxwell Thyolera said the party welcomes the recommendations the commission has made but the commission should have considered the contents of the electoral reforms bill that Member of Parliament for Lilongwe South Peter Dimba tabled in Parliament in February.
“There are other areas that should have been highlighted but have been left out. These are issues that would contribute to credible, free and fair elections. What we are saying is that each constituency should have tally centres where results should be known and declared. We also said the Malawi Electoral Commission headquarters should move to Lilongwe for convenience purposes and not in Blantyre which is far from some districts,” Thyolera said.
Chairperson for the special law commission, Anthony Kamanga, told the media during the report presentation on Wednesday that the commission considered Dimba’s proposals but threw out his suggestion on constituency tally centres.
The report, however, incorporates Dimba’s proposal for recording of the results in both Arabic numerals and in words to make the results tamper-proof.
Thyolera said the party is yet to discuss its official position on the 50+1 system of electing presidents but he personally believes the move is commendable.
“We are assured of being ruled by a person who is liked by a majority of Malawians. It unites the whole country,” he said.
Considering that laws have been stagnating at Cabinet level, Thyolera said the Cabinet should prioritise the electoral reforms to ensure the laws are in place before 2019.
Malawi Electoral Support Network Chairperson Steve Duwa said the country needs to be cautious on the proposed reforms, saying there is need to prioritise the implementation of some reforms for the 2019 Tripartite Elections.
He said the recommendations are many and looking at all of them for the 2019 election would be unrealistic.
“When the reforms go to Parliament, the parliamentarians should prioritise what can be done before 2019. There will be debate and disagreements in Parliament. There is also need to change the Constitution and all that may take time. We cannot use all of them in 2019, so there is need to prioritise,” Duwa said.
The commission has also proposed the amendment of Section 62 of the Constitution to add to the composition of the National Assembly each district in the country as a single member constituency in which only women shall contest as candidates for election as Members of Parliament.
Duwa said this was the best option among several options that were presented on women empowerment.
“Of course, we still need to answer the question on whether these 28 or so seats will be within the 193 or we will have to add them on top of the 193 seats we already have in the National Assembly,” he said.
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Samuel Tembenu said he had not seen the report and he would only comment after going through it.
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