From 11 April to 23 May 2022, the Electoral Commission has organised public hearings in all the councils to discuss and get feedback from stakeholders regarding the preliminary constituency and ward boundaries.

Attendance to these public hearings is by invitation and expected guests include Members of Parliament, Ward councillors, Political parties, Traditional Authorities, Civil society leaders including those representing women, the youth, and people with disabilities.

During the public hearings, the preliminary maps will be once more displayed for the last time for stakeholders to view. Thereafter, all stakeholders present will be given an opportunity to give their final feedback on the preliminary maps for the Commission to consider when drawing the final maps.

The schedule of the hearings is as follows:

During the public hearing the following agenda will be followed:

1. Presentation of the preliminary map and narration of the boundaries for the particular constituency will be made.
2. Getting feedback from the stakeholders and discussions will be held. The public hearings will serve as a platform to reconcile divergent or opposite views among stakeholders and iron out misunderstandings that may currently prevail.
3. This will also be an opportunity for finalising naming of constituencies and wards. The Commission had asked stakeholders to propose names for the re-drawn constituencies and wards. In some areas the names were proposed but in others they were not. The public hearings offer another opportunity for stakeholders to agree on new names of constituencies wherever applicable. The Commission will not suggest names of Constituencies and Wards for the stakeholders but where they do not come up with the names, the Commission will revert to using geographical cardinal points as names such as North, South and East as the case may be.

The Commission has come up with preliminary maps for the proposed constituencies and ward boundaries and have been pasted in various public places for public viewing.

It should be emphasised that these maps are preliminary, and NOT FINAL. The Commission is presenting them to the public for scrutiny, review and possibly to get feedback that can help in perfecting them.

Everyone is free to view the maps in the council where they have interest and also provide feedback to the Commission. There is also no age restriction.

The Maps for each council can also be accessed by clicking on the district name below:

The Commission is calling upon all members of the public, political parties, Civil Society Organisations, professional associations, academia, religious and faith groups and all interested stakeholders to participate in the exercise by inspecting the maps in any area where they have interest and give feedback through the form provided on the website or by sending letters through the respective council offices. Letters can also be sent to:

The Chief Elections Officer,

Malawi Electoral Commission,

Private Bag 113,

Blantyre

Email: cwbr@mec.org.mw

The deadline for receiving feedback is 24^th March, 2022.

Overview

The Malawi Electoral Commission is mandated, under Section 76 (2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi, to:
(a) determine constituency boundaries impartially on the basis of ensuring that constituencies contain approximately equal numbers of voters eligible to register, subject only to considerations:
(i) population density
(ii) ease of communication and
(iii) geographical features and administrative boundaries.

(b) review existing constituency boundaries at intervals of not more than five years and alter them in accordance with the principles laid down in subsection 2(a) above.

Further, the Electoral Commission Act Section 8 (1) (a) (b) and (c) (as amended) stipulates that: -

(1) In addition to the broad functions and powers conferred on the Commission by the Constitution and, subject to the Constitution, the Commission shall exercise general direction and supervision over the conduct of every election and without prejudice to the generality of such functions and powers, it shall have the following further functions –

(a) To determine the number of constituencies and wards for the purpose of elections;

(b) To undertake the demarcation of boundaries of constituencies;
(c) Subject to the Local Government Elections Act, and any other written law relating to local government elections, to undertake the demarcation of wards for the purposes of local government elections and to determine the number of such wards:
Provided that-
I. In the case of City of Blantyre, the total number of wards shall not exceed thirty;
II. In the case of the City of Lilongwe, the total number of wards shall not exceed thirty:
III. In the case of the City of Mzuzu, the total number of wards shall not exceed fifteen;
IV. In the case of City of the City of Zomba, the total number of wards shall not exceed ten;
V. In the case of Kasungu Municipal Council, the total number of wards shall not exceed ten;
VI. In the case of Luchenza Municipal Council, the total number of wards shall not exceed eight;
VII. In the case of Mangochi Town Council, the total number of wards shall not exceed Ten; and
VIII. In all other cases, the number of wards shall not exceed two 2 for each parliamentary constituency,

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Malawi uses First Past The Post (FPTP) Electoral system for Parliamentary and Local Government Elections whereby the country is divided into electoral districts (Constituencies/wards).
In 1964 the country had 53 constituencies which increased to 63 in 1973. In 1983 the figure was revised upwards to 101 before hitting 112 in 1987. The final revision before re-adoption of multipartyism was in 1992 whereby the total number of parliamentary seats rose to 141.

In preparation for the first multiparty general elections in 1994, the total number of constituencies was revised to 177 in 1993. The last revision was in 1998 whereby the total number of constituencies increased to the current 193.

So throughout history, the number of constituencies have always increased after every delimitation exercise.

During the 2000 Local Government Elections there were 861 wards; 166 in the North, 343 in the Centre and 352 in the South. However, for the 2014 elections, the Commission had to conclude a demarcation exercise for wards that started in 2010. The number of words was revised downwards to 462. Unlike the constituencies, the number of wards reduced off course with a backing of a new law that specified number of wards for cities and that every constituency in rural areas should have two wards.
In preparation for the September 2025 elections, the total number of constituencies has been revised to 229 while the number of wards has risen to 500.

Public awareness meetings

To kick start the boundary review exercise, the Commission embarked on a national wide exercise of meeting stakeholders and briefing them about the exercise.

The awareness meetings took place from 23^rd August to 17^th September, 2021 and they were led by the Commission in all the 28 District Councils, 4 City Councils and 3 Municipal Councils.

The objectives of the meetings were:

1. To inform electoral stakeholders in respective councils on the approach and methodology for the comprehensive review of constituency and ward boundaries.
2. To notify stakeholders of the implementation plan on the process

• To give stakeholders the opportunity to seek clarifications, present recommendations and submit proposals to be considered by the Commission in the review of constituency and ward boundaries.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions on public gatherings, the Commission invited critical stakeholders that included:

1. Members of District Elections Supervisory Team
2. Traditional Authorities and Sub Traditional Authorities in respect to District Councils or block leaders in Urban Councils
3. Members of Parliament
4. Ward Councillors
5. Representatives of relevant Civil Society Organisations including representatives of special interest groups like women, the youth and people with disabilities.
6. Representatives of faith-based organisations
7. District Chairpersons/Governors of political parties
8. District Chairladies/Governess of political parties
9. District Director of Elections of political parties
10. District Youth Chairpersons of political parties

The Commission also organized sperate meetings with leaders of all registered political parties, Civil Society Organisations including the Public Affairs Committee.

Before start of the meetings, maps for respective councils were displayed to give stakeholders the opportunity to view existing boundaries by Traditional Authority and by constituency. The maps were left with the councils so that stakeholders should continue accessing them if need be.

During the meetings stakeholders were also given an opportunity to express their views and issues for the consideration of the Commission when determining on the number of constituencies and wards.

The meetings were covered live on MEC Facebook page and can be accessed here

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Submitting  feedback

The Commission wants to hear from all stakeholders regarding the preliminary maps and descriptions for proposed constituency and ward boundaries by 24^th March, 2022.

Feedback can be submitted through the website. Against each map there is a form that should be used to submit feedback against that particular map.

Stakeholders can write letters and drop them at their respective council offices or send them to:

The Chief Elections Officer,

Malawi Electoral Commission,

Private Bag 113,

Blantyre

Email: cwbr@mec.org.mw

Feedback should be received by 24^th March, 2022 and can be done by individual person, an organisation or an institution legally accepted to operate in Malawi.

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