Commissioner responsible for Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation Olivia Liwewe said this in Lilongwe on Monday during a 2020 fresh presidential election postmortem meeting with district elections clerks and returning officers.

Liwewe said the Commission planned to hold the by-elections in October but is handicapped by the spread of Covid-19, whose end is not in sight hence the ministry to make a decision.

“The Commission’s plan is to conduct by-elections in around October. The problem now is the Covid-19 and the decision now rests with the Ministry of Health to determine the possibility of conducting them,” said Kunje.

On the postmortem, Liwewe told participants at the meeting to do some self-assessment on their conduct during the past fresh election which was deemed credible.

She added that even if an election is deemed successful, there is always something to learn from because every election comes with its own challenges.

Acting District Commissioner and returning officer for Dowa Christopher Kumikundi said the meeting will help the commission to iron out some of the problems they faced during the fresh presidential election.

“The meeting is crucial because it will expose some challenges that we encountered during the electoral process. For instance, we had transport problems where vehicles came in late, and without the fresh presidential election numbers plates, which delayed some operations,” Kumikundi said.

The Malawi Electoral Commission is conducting the postmortem meetings in different districts. Dowa, Kasungu, and Mchinji are some of the district that the Commission has conducted such meetings.