If you are staying outside Malawi, forget about voting from there!

Pollster, the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has ruled out people living in diaspora voting during the 2025 tripartite election.

MEC Commissioner Anthony Mukumbwa has said there are no arrangements at present to allow Malawians living in the diaspora to vote while outside the country.

He said Malawians residing abroad who would have registered for elections while in Malawi won’t be able to cast their votes outside Malawi in the 2025 Presidential, Parliamentary, and Local government elections as there are currently no laws and arrangements for that.

He was speaking on Thursday in Mzimba during an electoral stakeholder meeting with traditional leaders, political parties’ representatives, representatives of civil society organizations, and members of Mzimba District Elections Supervisory Team.

Responding to a question from one of the participants on whether those who may have registered in Mzimba but by voting day in September 2025 they will have gone abroad will be allowed to vote using embassy offices, Mukumbwa said it won’t be possible to vote outside the country as presently there are no laws or arrangement for that.

Most Malawians in some districts such as Mzimba and Mangochi travel to countries such as South Africa and Tanzania for greener pasture.

“Voting will be in September 2025 and it will be a public holiday,” said Mukumbwa.

MEC Deputy Chief Elections Officer responsible for operations, Harris Potani said the electoral body aimed at raising awareness for various electoral players for fair and credible 2025 General Elections.

Traditional Authority (TA) Kampingo Sibande advised fellow traditional leaders to share the information gathered at the meeting with the masses.

The meeting bordered on new electoral laws which included polling period, revised constituency and ward boundaries among others.