Malawi has again postponed local elections that are constitutionally required to be held by May 2010, local government minister Goodall Gondwe told Parliament on Tuesday.
The last local polls were held in 2000, but the next in 2005 were called off because of a searing famine which affected half of the country’s people.
Gondwe said the country first wanted to reform the local government system before holding the polls.
”Looking at the number of activities that need to be accomplished before the local polls are held, it is clearly not possible to hold a credible local government election by the third week of May 2010,” Gondwe said in a statement.
He said the government was committed to holding the polls ”not later than December 2010,” and that he would seek to remove the constitutional requirement to hold local balloting within one year of general elections.
Government first wants to review the 1998 local government act to clarify the role of councillors and their relationship with national legislators, as well as determine the the availability of money for local assembly micro-projects.
”It is very important that focus should not be merely on holding local polls for the sake of it, but we should also look at the effectiveness of local assemblies,” he said.
Malawi held its first local polls in 2000, six years after the introduction of multi-party politics in 1994.
The former ruling party of ex-president Bakili Muluzi swept nearly all the 680 seats amid voter apathy, with only 14% of four million voters casting ballots. — AFP
