Election chief power grab row: MCP commissioners accused of trying to install ‘in-law’ at top of electoral body

• Battle over who runs Malawi Electoral Commission secretariat threatens to plunge poll body into crisis just months before crucial vote

A bitter power struggle has erupted at the heart of the Malawi Electoral Commission, after commissioners aligned with the ruling Malawi Congress Party pushed to install a senior officer – reportedly related by marriage to a top presidential aide – as acting Chief Elections Officer, sparking fears the body charged with running the country’s elections is being politically captured.

Who is at the centre of the row?

At the centre of the dispute is Hastings Bota, substantively the Commission’s Director of Electoral Services.

MCP commissioners are pushing for Bota to be installed in the role of Deputy Chief Elections Officer – Operations, and from there to act as Chief Elections Officer – a position that does not substantively belong to him.

That role is in fact held by Harris Potani, who was seconded to the Malawi Embassy in China ahead of the 2025 elections. Sources claim the secondment was designed to sideline Potani and keep him out of the electoral process altogether.

In his absence, Bota – said by sources to be an in-law to Chief of Staff Colleen Zamba – stepped into the Deputy CEO Operations role.

Potani has since been recalled to Malawi, but sources inside MEC allege that MCP commissioners are now actively blocking his return to office, insisting Bota should remain in the acting position instead.

Why the row matters

The dispute is more than an internal personnel squabble. MEC’s own Conditions of Service set out clear rules governing acting appointments, and bypassing the substantive deputy in favour of another senior officer would set a troubling precedent – one that undermines established HR policy and could expose the Commission to legal challenge.

There is also the thornier issue of perception. MEC’s authority depends heavily on being seen as independent and impartial.

Commissioners from a single party pushing for a specific individual to head operations feeds directly into fears that the Commission is being quietly captured by political interests – a perception that, true or not, risks eroding public confidence in the entire electoral process.

Timing raises the stakes

The row could scarcely have come at a more sensitive moment, with MEC deep in preparations for the 2025 general elections.

Any instability at the top of the Secretariat threatens delays, confusion, and disputes over decisions taken by an acting CEO whose very appointment is contested.

There is also the question of experience. Potani carries institutional memory built from years of running elections – memory that would be lost if he is sidelined at such a critical juncture.

Installing Bota in his place, whatever his individual competence, is almost certain to be read through a political lens given his reported family ties to the MCP.

A test for MEC’s independence

Elections, ultimately, are won and lost on two things: the vote itself, and public trust in the process that delivers it. A seemingly administrative decision over who acts as Chief Elections Officer has, in an election year, become unmistakably political.

MEC is yet to issue any public statement on the matter, leaving the Commission facing a stark choice: follow its own established procedures, or bow to political pressure from within.

Efforts to obtain comment from both Bota and Potani were unsuccessful at the time of publication.

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