The Tonse led administration has faulted the previous government for dallying about with electoral reforms laws.

Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Titus Mvalo said this in Lilongwe this morning during opening of a two day electoral reforms review conference organised by Nice Public Trust.

In an interview, Mvalo said the Tonse led administration is committed to ensuring that there is enactment and implementation of the electoral reforms laws.

“It will be our first agenda to work through these laws, there are several possible electoral reforms that may be debated upon in accordance with recommendations that were put forward,” he said.

On his part, Malawi Electoral Commission chairperson Justice Chifundo Kachale said there is need to consider independence of the electoral body when working on the reforms.

“It’s very important that the way it [Electoral Commission] generates confidents in all the key stakeholders and I think one of the ways you can do that is to ensure that it is acting with independence and everybody can have that confidence to say the Commission is acting without any influence,” stressed Kachale.

Nice Public Trust Executive Director Ollen Mwalubunju has expressed optimism that once the reforms are fully discussed, the legislators will deliberate on them accordingly.

“We are appealing upon parliamentarians to be more responsible to make sure that these reforms are translated into legislations which can enable us to have better elections,” he said.

The conference has seen a participation of electoral stakeholders and experts from law and governance institutions.

The two-day consultative conference is being held under the theme: “Electoral reforms and their significance in democracy consolidation in Malawi”.