Parliament has adopted a report of the Malawi Electoral Commission MEC on the boundary demarcation exercise of constituencies and ward councillors.
Making the presentation, Minister of Justice Titus Mvalo told the house that the electoral body widely consulted all relevant stakeholders to consider all queries and outstanding issues.
After his presentation, Speaker of Parliament Catherine Gotani Hara opened the floor for comments by political Party spokespersons.
First to comment was Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesperson Yusuf Nthenda who is also a Member of Parliament for Mulanje West.
In his remarks, Nthenda told the house that his party was against the report saying Malawi is going through some economic downtimes and it doesn’t make sense for the country to have more wards and constituencies as it will increase government wage BIll.
“How do you expect the same government whose coffers are dry to continue spending unnecessarily?” wondered Nthenda.
However, his counterpart from the United Democratic Front (UDF) Nedson Phoya who is also Member of Parliament for Zomba Nthonya told the house that his party is in total support of the report.
According to Phoya, the commission consulted all relevant players including Chiefs, Religious leaders, political Party leaders and Civil Society Organisations.
While some members of Parliament from the opposition side were against the report during the debate, the house anonymously adopted the report.
This means that after the 2025 General Elections, the country will have 228 constituencies from 193 after the creation of 35 new ones while wards will move from 462 to 509.
Once confirmed by the National Assembly the Commission shall publish the new boundary descriptions in the Gazette and shall immediately thereafter, embark on a national wide exercise to establish registration and polling centres.
During this exercise, the public will have an opportunity to suggest new places to be considered for establishment as centres in line with the new boundaries and the law.
