Candidate screening ahead of 2019 polls crucial—MEC

Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) Chairperson, Justice Jane Ansah, has urged political parties to screen and vet aspiring candidates ahead of nomination papers presentation in readiness for the May 2019 tripartite elections.

Ansah: Tips political parties

Speaking in an interview, Justice Ansah said as most political parties in the country are conducting primary elections, there is need to scrutinize the eligibility of their candidates ahead of nomination papers presentation exercise.

“As a commission we have requirements that aspiring candidates must fulfill before we accept their nomination papers, so before fielding their candidates political parties should look into those necessities,’’ she said.

She added: “We don’t want at the last minute to reject candidates who have failed to meet our requirements, because if we do so we will not give a second chance to political parties or the aspiring candidate to resubmit their candidacy’’.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Director of Elections, Ben Phiri said as the party will soon start conducting primaries it will screen and vet carefully all aspiring candidates in readiness for the presentation of nomination papers.

“Every game has its rules, as DPP we will ensure all our aspirants are meeting MEC requirements so that they are not rejected during nomination papers presentation , as that can negatively affect our preparations for the May 2019 polls,” said Phiri.

According to the revised MEC stakeholder’s calendar, the Commission will from February next year start receiving nomination papers from aspiring candidates ahead of the elections.

Currently MEC is conducting voter registration in phases which is targeting over 9 million eligible voters.

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