According to Lulume Bayiga, the Executive Chairperson of the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) party, since November 2020, and continuing throughout the 2026 electoral cycle, the JDP has recorded an ongoing pattern of state-linked abductions where some security agents in plain clothes or military attire, driving unmarked minibuses, have seized opposition supporters, campaign organizers, polling agents, and civic activists from streets and homes.
Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, the former President of Malawi and Special Envoy of the Commonwealth Secretary-General, was tasked with engaging key stakeholders on political freedoms, electoral reform, and accountability after post-election protests and violence.