Parliament to dispose of 2019 ballot materials

Parliament is expected to dispose of the May 21 2019 Tripartite Elections ballot materials after expiry of 12 months in accordance with the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections (PPE) Act.

As part of the process, Parliament, Malawi Defence Force and Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) officials on Friday transferred ballot materials from MEC warehouse at Maone in Blantyre to Lilongwe where they will be disposed of.

Section 119 of the PPE Act gives the Clerk of Parliament powers to store all electoral materials for 12 months and dispose of them thereafter.

In an interview on Friday, Parliament deputy secretary Maggie Chinsinga said the actual date of disposing of the materials will be communicated.

She said: “The PPE Act gives mandate to the Clerk of Parliament to safely store all electoral materials and that period has elapsed or else we can say that these electoral documents have expired.

“But we want to follow the law accordingly in disposing of these electoral documents.”

Chinsinga said electoral materials for constituencies where there are electoral disputes in courts will not be disposed of.

In the aftermath of the 2019 polls, candidates—mostly from opposition political parties and independents—successfully sued MEC for declaring some  parliamentary candicates winners when there were irregularities.

The constituencies that attracted electoral disputes include Mangochi West, Phalombe North, Mangochi North East, Mangochi Monkey Bay, Nsanje North, Nsanje Central and Chikwawa East.

While judgements were passed in some of the cases, some matters are yet to be concluded.

MEC director of media and public relations Sangwani Mwafulirwa in an earlier interview said they will soon be engaging stakeholders to conduct by-elections in constituencies that are vacant.

But Chinsinga on Friday emphasised that the disposing of the electoral materials will include the controversial May 21 2019 presidential materials.