The Malawi Electoral Commission is mandated by law to conduct by-elections to fill a seat in the National Assembly or council which has become vacant otherwise than by dissolution of the National Assembly or the council.

When conducting by-election, the Commission issues a calendar that details the sequence and dates for all activities. The calendar is shared with all stakeholders to enable them to participate effectively in the by-election activities.

For every by-election, the Commission is required to open centres for registration of new voters with a cut-off point age being those that will attain voting age by the polling age for that by-election. Those that registered in the previous elections as required to verify their details in the voters’ roll and no voter transfers are accepted.

The same eligibility criteria for General Election also applies during by-election. Every person eligible to contest whether they contested in the past or elsewhere or are new.

The campaign period for a by-election, like with General Election, is 60 days closing forty-eight hours before the opening of the poll.

The Commission has also been ordered to conduct a Fresh Parliamentary Elections where the 2019 Parliamentary results have been nullified by the courts. For these ones there have been no fresh registration of voters and no new candidates have been accepted.

At the end of every election, the Commission issues a results declaration speech detailing the background to the vacancy, the processes and the results. You can download the declaration statements here: