MALAWI ELECTORAL COMMISSION

CHAPTER 2:03
MALAWI ELECTORAL COMMISSION

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

    SECTION

PART I
PRELIMINARY

    1.    Short title

    2.    Interpretation

PART II
STATUS AND MEMBERSHIP OF THE COMMISSION

    3.    Legal personality and capacity of the Commission

    4.    Appointment of members of the Commission

    5.    Eligibility for appointment to the Commission

    6.    Independence of the Commission

    7.    Committees of the Commission

PART III
FUNCTIONS AND POWERS OF THE COMMISSION

    8.    Functions and powers of the Commission

    9.    Delegation of powers and functions

    10.    Vacancy in the membership of the Commission

PART IV
MEETINGS OF THE COMMISSION

    11.    Meetings of the Commission

PART V
MANAGEMENT

    12.    Appointment of Chief Elections Officer

    13.    Appointment of staff of the Commission

    14.    Vacancy where employee becomes candidate in the elections

PART VI
FINANCIAL PROVISIONS

    15.    Funds of the Commission

    16.    Books and other records of accounts, audit and reports of the Commission

    17.    Holdings of funds of the Commission

    18.    Financial year

PART VII
MISCELLANEOUS

    19.    Duty to cooperate

    20.    Legal representation

    21.    Publicity

    21A.    Provision of voter education

    21B.    Accreditation by the Commission

    21C.    Accreditation to provide voter education

    21D.    Code of conduct for accredited voter education providers

    21E.    Failure to comply with the code etc.

    22.    Regulations

PART VIII
TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS

    23.    Savings

    24.    Transfer of assets, etc.

11 of 1998
16 of 2010
11 of 2013
32 of 2018
11 of 2023
G.N. 25/2023

    An Act to make provision for the appointment of members of the Malawi Electoral Commission; for the establishment of a Secretariat for the Malawi Electoral Commission; and for matters incidental thereto and connected therewith

PART I
PRELIMINARY

1.    Short title

    This Act may be cited as the Malawi Electoral Commission Act.

11 of 2023

2.    Interpretation

    In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, the several words and expressions used in this Act shall have the same meanings assigned to them in the Constitution and the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Act and the following additional words shall have the following meaning—

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11 of 2023

32 of 2018

    “Chairman” means the Chairman of the Commission;

    “Chief Elections Officer” means the Chief Elections Officer appointed under section 12;

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    “Commission” means the Malawi Electoral Commission established under section 75 (1) of the Constitution.

PART II
STATUS AND MEMBERSHIP OF THE COMMISSION

3.    Legal personality and capacity of the Commission

    The Commission shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal and be capable of—

    (a)    acquiring, holding and disposing of real and personal property;

    (b)    suing and being sued in its own name; and

    (c)    doing or performing all such acts and things as bodies corporate may by law do or perform.

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11 of 2023

4.    Appointment of members of the Commission

    (1) The President shall, subject to section 75 of the Constitution and in accordance with subsections (2), (3) and (4), appoint suitably qualified persons to be members of the Commission on such terms and conditions as the Public Appointments Committee of Parliament shall determine.

32 of 2018

    (2) Leaders of political parties represented in the National Assembly which secured more than one-tenth of the national vote in election to that Parliament, shall submit to the President a maximum of three persons as the political parties nominees as members of the Commission provided that where the President notes that all nominees used for such adequate number as is required under subsection (3), are not qualified under the Constitution for this Act to hold office as a Commissioner, the President shall return the names to nominating political parties within a reasonable time and in any event before appointing the members of the Commission and the nominating political party shall resubmit a final list of nominees within seven days of receipt of such notification.

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    (3) Upon receipt of the nominees, as provided under subsection (2), the President shall appoint members of the Commission from the nominees in proportion to the nominating political parties representation in the National Assembly as determined by the previous General Elections.

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    (4) In the event a vacancy in the membership of the Commission before the expiry of the term of a Commissioner, the President shall notify the political party that nominated the Commissioner whose office has fallen vacant to submit a minimum of three names within fourteen days of the notification and the President shall appoint a Commissioner from those names within a reasonable time, provided that provision to subsection (2), shall apply to this subsection mutatis mutandis.

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    (5) The remuneration and any allowance…