The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) says it has placed a strong emphasis on fostering women’s empowerment throughout the electoral cycle as Malawi gears up for its general elections on September 16, 2025.
The commission’s comprehensive approach aims to give room for women’s participation as voters, candidates, and electoral staff, signaling a concerted effort to achieve a more equitable democratic landscape.
Media and Public Relations Director at the MEC, Sangwani Mwafulirwa, articulated the commission’s vision, highlighting the critical stages leading up to polling day, including nominations, the campaign period, and the polling and results management.
Mwafulirwa underscored that the MEC’s commitment extends to ensuring a truly inclusive environment where women can fully engage at every level, emphasizing the MEC’s dedication to providing a safe polling process where women are free from intimidation or obstruction when casting their votes.
He stressed that women should be able to “come from home and go back without somebody intimidating them.”
Mwafulirwa also highlighted the commission’s internal pledge to achieve a 50-50 gender balance among temporary polling staff.
“If we are employing 10,000 or 15,000 temporary staff, how many of these are women? There is a commitment from the Malawi Electoral Commission that we should employ 50-50 of each gender,” he affirmed, noting that this commitment has already been implemented during voter registration, inspection, and verification processes.
Furthermore, he has pointed to the encouraging statistic that women already comprise over 50% of registered voters, saying MEC’s focus now shifts to encouraging a high turnout among these registered women on polling day.
On working to reduce financial barriers for women aspiring to hold political office, Mwafulirwa revealed that “the commission gazetted that women should pay 50 percent less of the nomination fees.”
To ensure these empowerment efforts are transparent and effective, the MEC has enlisted the support of the media, urging them to serve as “the eyes or the vanguards or the watchdogs” of the electoral process and to scrutinize issues pertaining to women’s participation from various angles – as candidates, voters, and polling staff.
MEC has also called on journalists to hold other stakeholders, particularly political parties, accountable for their commitments to women’s empowerment.
“If parties have committed to women empowerment, providing an environment for equal participation of women, what is it that the parties are actually doing beyond their expression or their commitment to supporting women?”
By Eric Norman Mkwaira
