The Malawi Law Society (“Society”) has a statutory mandate under section 64(d) of the Legal Education and Legal Practitioners Act “to protect matters of public interest touching, ancillary or incidental to law”. The Society makes this statement in relation to the vacancy in the membership and composition of the Malawi Electoral Commission (“the Commission”).

1. The Society has noted with great concern that, for some time and for various reasons, the Commission has been operating with a vacancy in its membership. Consequently, the Commission has been functioning with the Chairperson and five (5) members, rather than the prescribed six (6) members. The Society has further observed that efforts to fill this vacancy have been slow and repeatedly affected by challenges regarding the eligibility of nominees.
2. The Society notes that section 75(1) of the Constitution provides for the Commission to be composed of no fewer than the Chairperson and four (4) members, and no more than the Chairperson and six (6) members. While the Commission has been able to discharge its functions within this range, Section 10 of the Malawi Electoral Commission Act provides that any vacancy in membership, subject to the constitutional range, does not incapacitate the Commission.
3. However, while the law allows the Commission to continue functioning, the Society decries the inordinate delay in filling the vacancy. The continued vacancy undermines the credibility of the Commission’s decisions and public confidence in the institution. It further contravenes the representative approach embodied in sections 4(2) and 4(3) of the Malawi Electoral Commission Act, which require proportional representation of parties in the Commission.
4. The Society therefore calls upon all stakeholders involved, in particular the Democratic Progressive Party as the nominating party, and President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera as the appointing authority, to treat this matter with urgency and ensure that the vacancy is resolved as soon as possible as the nation approaches the 16th September 2025 elections.

Issued this 5th day of September 2025.

Davis Mthakati Njobvu
CHAIRMAN

Francis Ekari M’mame
HONORARY SECRETARY