NICE ROLLS OUT POLITICAL DEBATES THROUGHOUT MALAWI
The National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE) Trust, as an accredited institution for civic and voter education for the 2025 General Election, is currently conducting mass awareness and mobilization efforts for the election. This is to ensure that the electorate is well-informed as the nation approaches the polling. Among the many strategies NICE is using to deliver high-quality civic and voter education are political candidates’ debates, which are currently taking place in all the constituencies in Malawi.
The main objective of these candidates’ debates is to allow the electorate to evaluate the candidates (based on facts presented) so they can make informed decisions. The debates also provide the candidates with a chance for the community to know them and to sell their manifestos and engage the electorate’s expectations once they are voted into their respective positions (Councilor and Member of Parliament).
These are platforms for discussion on the duties and responsibilities of each concerned office (such as a Councillor and Member of Parliament). They allow the electorate to gain clarity on various relevant issues that affect them and assess how each candidate would address their local development issues by asking questions. Holding these debates also allows the electorate to evaluate their candidates on eloquence, issue articulation, and confidence.
Political debates are relevant and linked to the overall goal of the NICE Public Trust in that it purports to contribute to the promotion of good governance and democratic principles in the society: tolerance (accommodation of diverse and different opinions, views beliefs and acceptance of the status of others), transparency, accountability, free and fair elections, respect for human rights, accessibility of public officials, decentralisation, mandate (where leaders are granted leadership positions through social contracts) and legitimacy (where the exercise of authority is lawful and widely accepted).
