General Right to Vote
Constitution:
• Section 77, subsection (1) states: "All persons shall be eligible to vote in any general election, by-election, presidential election, local government election or referendum, subject only to this section."
Electoral Law:
(1993: Parliamentary and Presidential Elections)
• Section 15 states: "Every citizen of Malawi residing in Malawi and who, on or before the polling day, shall have attained the age of eighteen years shall be eligible to register as a voter in an election."

Specific Inclusion of People with Disabilities
Constitution:
• Section 13 states: "The state shall actively promote the welfare and development of the people of Malawi by progressively adopting and implementing policies and legislation aimed at achieving the following goals…(g) To support the disabled through (i) greater access to public places; (ii) fair opportunities in employment; and (iii) the fullest possible participation in all spheres of Malawian society."

Exclusion Based on Mental Disability
Constitution:
• Section 51, subsection (2) states: "Notwithstanding subsection (1), no person shall be qualified to be nominated or elected as a Member of Parliament who…(b) is, under any law in force in the Republic, adjudged or otherwise declared to be mentally incompetent…"
• Section 77, subsection (3) states: "No person shall be qualified for registration as a voter in a constituency if that person (a) is under any law in force in the Republic adjudged or otherwise declared to be mentally incompetent…"
• Section 80, subsection (7) states: "No person shall be eligible for nomination as a candidate for election as President or First Vice President or for appointment as first Vice President or Second Vice President if that person (a) has been adjudged or declared to be of unsound mind."

Exclusion Based on Physical Disability
Constitution:
• Section 51, subsection (1) states: "A person shall not be qualified to be nominated or elected as a Member of the Parliament unless that person…(b) is able to speak and to read the English language well enough to take an active part in the proceedings of Parliament."

Voter Assistance by Other Citizens
Electoral Law:
(1993: Parliamentary and Presidential Elections)
• Section 87 states: "A voter who is blind or is affected by disease or other physical disability may vote accompanied by another registered voter of his own choice or, failing such voter, by a polling station officer who shall assist such person in casting his vote and shall act faithfully to the wish expressed by such person and with absolute secrecy regarding the vote cast by such person."
Poll Worker Manuals:
Voters Registration Procedures Manual for Parliamentary and Presidential Elections: Produced by the Malawi Electoral Commission (1999)
• Handicapped, blind, or disabled people cannot have someone register for them. However, they may receive assistance at the Registration Centre p 26
Official Presiding officer's Manual for National Referendum (1993)
• Blind voters or people with physical disabilities that incapacitate them from individually casting their votes may receive assistance from a person of their choice.
Municipal Council Elections Memo for Presiding Officers (1988)
• "Blind and incapacitated voters are to be given every assistance on arrival and may be conducted by polling agents on duty from the entrance to the polling station as far as the entrance to their appropriate voting room"

Off-Site Voting Alternatives
Poll Worker Manuals:
Voters Registration Procedures Manual for Parliamentary and Presidential Elections: Produced by the Malawi Electoral Commission (1999)
• Persons in the hospital may not register during the Registration Period. The program will only register persons at Registration Centres during the Registration Period p 26
Official Presiding officer's Manual for National Referendum (1993)
• Proxy voting procedures

Promotes Access
Poll Worker Manuals:
Municipal Council Elections Memo for Presiding Officers (1988)
• "Only vehicles carrying incapacitated voters will be permitted to drop their passengers at the entrance to the precincts of the Polling Station"