Chiefs from Lilongwe District have asked the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) to reconsider changing names and boundaries for constituencies and wards.

The Chiefs made the plea in Lilongwe during an interface with the electoral body during the ongoing public hearings on preliminary constituency and ward boundary.

According to one the traditional leaders Senior Chief Chadza, giving local people an opportunity to decide proposed names and boundaries is an ideal for a democratic society.

He said: “Yes, we are satisfied because from today we are going to have a meeting with the chiefs and the people in the communities.

We will have the meeting to inform them and bring new ideas so that we can help the electoral Commission for their activities they are doing.”

Meanwhile, MEC Chairman Chifundo Kachale has since given the Chiefs untill May 15, 2022 to submit the names and proposed boundaries.

“We have given them until May 15 to go back and reconsider what names they want to give their particular constituency or ward, and they will communicate to us through the District Commissioner’s office.

“But they also some instances where people are proposing more natural features for boundaries, they are saying that their certain rivers or the certain roads that divide the communities in a manner that makes more sense,” said Kachale.

It has been over 20 years now since the 1998 constituency demarcation exercise was conducted, an exercise that was supposed to be done every five years.

In its boundary review exercise, MEC added 30 more constituencies translating to 228 constituencies from the initial 193.

According to the law, the main factor to be considered is the number of people eligible to register to vote.

The law has also provided other factors to be considered. The weight to be attached to these other factors is within the Commission’s discretion.