CCJP Continues to Woo the Electorates to Vote for Women in the 2025 General Elections

The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) in the Archdiocese of Lilongwe has urged people to register when MEC reopens the registration period they is year and those who registered in the voters roll for the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) last year to vote for women in the forthcoming September 2025 General Elections.

Speaking during an awareness meeting conducted on Sunday the 12th January at Kamwendo TC in Mchinji, the CCJP District Coordinator for Mchinji, Alexius Nasoni said for Malawi to have meaningful sustainable developments women representation as parliamentarians and as councilors are pivotal which is possible only if eligible Malawians register and vote for women.

Nasoni called upon all registrants and eligible voters to reflect on the role women play in the development of their families and societies and challenged political parties and the society itself to remove all barriers hindering women participation in public elections.

“We want women to take a bold stand and stand as councilors or parliamentarians in the 16th September 2025 General elections. Political parties should not prevent women to participate. They should put deliberate policies to have women represennration in this year’s elections,” said Nasoni.

According to Nasoni, greater women participation in politics helps not only in advancing gender equality but also helps in good and sound government policies.

“There’s strong evidence that when more women are elected into political positions, there is a corollary increase in policy making that emphasizes quality of life and reflects the priorities of families and the nation at large. But this cannot happen if eligible people don’t register to vote for the women,” added Nasoni.

In her remarks, the Boma ward councilor in Mchinji central constituency, Martha Dzanja has commended the initiative saying it will go a long way to boost women representation in political positions in the district.

“This program is good. It has greatly motivated us women not to backtrack. You may wish to know that Mchinji has just two female councilors out of twelve. This is bad. With this project we are sure to have fifty-fifty representation as MPs are in Mchinji,” said Martha.

She however lamented lack of material and financial support as some of the major reasons that make them not be at par with their male counterparts.

CCJP organized the awareness meeting to encourage those that didn’t register last year to register when MEC reopens the supplementary registration window. The awareness meeting is done with financial support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) through the “Enhancing the Participation of Women in the 2025 Malawi General Elections’ project.