Malawi

Table of Contents:

• General Right to Vote
• Exclusion or Potential Exclusion Based on Disability
• Assistive Tools and Policies
• Candidacy or Holding Office

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Section 6 states:

Any person residing in Malawi and who, on or before the polling day, shall have attained the age of eighteen years shall be eligible to register as a voter in an election.

 

Excerpt from the Local Government Elections Act (1996, amended 1999)

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Section 27 states:

(1) A person shall not be qualified to be nominated or elected as a councilor unless that person:…

• (b) is able to speak and to read the English language well enough to take an active part in the proceedings of the Council…

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), no person shall be qualified to be nominated or elected as a councilor who:…

• (b) is under any written law in force in Malawi, adjudged or otherwise declared to be of unsound mind;
• (c) has, within the last seven years, been convicted by a competent court of crime involving  dishonesty or moral turpitude…

 

Excerpt from the Local Government Elections Act (1996, amended 1999)

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Section 71 states:

A voter who is blind or is affected by disease or other physical disability may vote accompanied by another registered voter of his own choice, or failing such voter, by a polling station officer who shall assist such person in casting his vote and shall act faithfully to the wish expressed by such person and with absolute secrecy regarding the vote cast by such person.

 

Excerpt from the Local Government Elections Act (1996, amended 1999)

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Section 27 states:

(1) A person shall not be qualified to be nominated or elected as a councilor unless that person:…

• (b) is able to speak and to read the English language well enough to take an active part in the proceedings of the Council…

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), no person shall be qualified to be nominated or elected as a councilor who:…

• (b) is under any written law in force in Malawi, adjudged or otherwise declared to be of unsound mind;
• (c) has, within the last seven years, been convicted by a competent court of crime involving  dishonesty or moral turpitude…

 

Excerpt from the Local Government Elections Act (1996, amended 1999)