By Daniel Itai.
Blantyre, Malawi
19 May 2020, has been set as the date for the runoff of the Malawian Presidential elections.
Earlier on this month, the Constitutional Court annulled the May 2019 Presidential elections results due to irregularities.
On Monday, Parliament passed the Parliamentary and Presidential Elections amendment Bill which will result in the provision for holding of runoff Presidential elections if no candidate in the elections gets half or more of the valid votes.
The National Assembly also passed the Electoral Commission amendment Bill which states that the Chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Commission should be nominated by the Judicial Service Commission and be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Public Appointments Committee.
It further states that the appointment of other members of the Commission shall be on recommendation of the Public Appointments Committee following nominations from political parties represented in Parliament.
However, chairperson of the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) Timothy Mtambo said President Peter Mutharika was supposed to sign the Bills imminently.
“We are giving the President seven days to sign the Bills and if he fails to do so we are going to hold vigils at State House and we will be there until he signs those Electoral Bills.
There is no need for him to wait until 21 days, 19 May is near and we want him to sign those Bills so that the MEC can start preparing for the elections.
We are also giving him seven days to fire all MEC commissioners, we want new MEC commissioners as soon as possible so that they can start working because time is not our side,” said the Chairperson.
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