Malawi is scheduled to hold general elections on 16 September 2025 to elect a President, Members to the National Assembly and representatives Ward Councils to serve for a five-year period. The 2025 elections come after the previous elections in 2019 that were initially nullified by the Supreme Court. The Court besides the nullification of elections in 2020 also ordered for constitutional amendments one of which is for the President to obtain more than 50% of the votes.  Initially it was by simple majority. H.E President Lazarus Chakwera will be seeking to extend his tenure while two former presidents, H.E Peter Mutharika and H.E Joyce Banda will also contest in the poll.

Against this background, the African Union Commission (AUC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Secretariat with support from the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA) and International IDEA, deployed a Pre-election and Needs Assessment Mission (PAM/NAM) to Malawi from 31 March to 5 April 2025.

The mission was led by H.E Geoffrey Onyeama, former Foreign Affairs Minister of the Republic of Nigeria. The objective of the assessment was two pronged; firstly, to assess the level of preparedness by electoral stakeholders for the General Elections. Secondly, the mission aimed at evaluating the needs and areas for support for the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) and other electoral stakeholders. The outcome of the needs assessment was meant to inform strategic technical support and engagement by AU and COMESA.

To achieve its objectives, the mission held consultations with key electoral stakeholders including MEC Malawi Police Service (MPS), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, leaders of political parties, UN agencies, EU and Civil Society Organisations among others.