By Chrissie Teleza

Malawi Parliament has amended the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Act to allow polling staff, security personnel and election monitors to vote where they will be stationed, away from the centres they registered.

Back in 2022, Parliament amended the law to remove a provision that previously allowed this. The amendment meant up to 50 thousand eligible voters were at risk of being disenfranchised.

Without the latest amendment, groups that could have been affected included security personnel deployed to maintain law and order; polling staff assigned to manage the elections; accredited election monitors and observers as well as members of the media covering the elections.

Several stakeholders, among them the Civil Society Elections Integrity Forum (CSEIF) had asked Malawi president, Lazarus Chakwera and parliament to intervene by convening an emergency session of parliament to amend the law again to prevent marginalizing voters.

An emergency session of parliament was called and Section 74 of the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Act (No. 10 of 2023) has now been amended to allow polling staff, representatives of candidates and political parties and officers from security agencies to vote at polling stations where they are deployed.

The right to vote is an entrenched right in the Republican Constitution of Malawi under section 40 (1).