| Overview : The Malawi Electoral Commission (the Commission) is a constitutional body created under Section 75 of the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi to supervise and direct the conduct of all elections in Malawi i.e. Parliamentary, Presidential, By-elections, Local Government and Referenda. The Commission conducts these elections in line with the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi, Parliamentary and Presidential Elections Act No.31 of 1993 (PPEA), Local Government Elections Act No. 24 of 1996 and Electoral Commission Act No.11 of 1998 (ECA) and the Referendum Act of 2017. It is anticipated that in the period towards polling, during polling and immediately after polling, the Commission will be faced with an increased number of electoral disputes requiring resolution and determination. Some of these disputes will culminate into court disputes. In the cases that end up in the courts, the Commission will require assistance in the form of legal services from sources outside the Commission. Depending on the nature of dispute and the locality, it will be technically prudent to have the legal services, sourced as close to the relevant court registry as possible. It is envisaged that the Commission will need to have at its disposal sources of legal services from within all regions and at centrally located court registries. In this case, the Commission will need to hire legal houses from each of the major cities of Blantyre, Lilongwe, and Mzuzu. With support from the Malawi Electoral Cycle Support (MECS) project, UNDP shall provide technical and financial assistance to ensure the realization of this assignment and assist the Commission to ensure timely conclusions of electrical disputes. | 
