MCP sticks to its statement on Ansah-led MEC ‘opaque meetings’

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) says it sticks to its  statement accusing the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) of suspiciously soliciting signatures for new electoral result sheets and that it will not withdraw it despite electoral commission’s threats of court action.

This follows a request  by Jane-Ansah-led MEC to MCP  that they should withdraw its statement which called on  Malawians to apprehend MEC workers.

MCP publicity secretary the Reverend Maurice Munthali insists that MEC is  continuing to  bastardize the May 21 presidential vote by working with some district commissioners  to coerce presiding officers and other stakeholders to sign what he termed ‘the clandestine’ result sheets in exchange for money.

“The Malawi Congress Party would like to appeal to all Presiding Officers to remain vigilant and that they should resist this manipulative scheme when and where it reaches their doorstep,” said Munthali in a statement seen by Nyasa Times.

MEC chief elections officer Sam Alfandika disputed the allegation, branding the remarks as “a misleading and malicious statement” that can incite hatred and unkindness towards MEC staff.

Alfandika warned that MCP will be held responsible for any loss of life for MEC staff or lawyers or loss or damage to property in the course of MEC’s preparation for a Constitutional Court case hearing on July 29.

But Munthali said the party will not withdraw its statement and is ready to meet the electoral body in court.

He said: “MEC knows that they have messed up and there is no way they can ask MCP to withdraw that statement because we are talking on behalf of Malawians and we are representing their anger. That is why we asked them to be .”

Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) vice chairperson Gift Trapence told a news conference that  there are  a coordinated effort by the electoral commission, disguised as an affidavit solicitation process in many districts in Malawi in which “opaque meetings are being held, sometimes in the dead of night, with election presiding officers allegedly being forced to retroactively append signatures to, thus certifying after the fact, vote tally documents.”

The human rights defenders also expressed anger at the spate of alleged deaths of presiding officers and persons connected to the alleged fraud-ridden election over the past weeks.

“Our count is now at six of persons who have turned up dead under strange circumstances after having been identified as persons of interest in different aspects of the contested elections.

“It appears that, while a formal process is underway through constitutionally provided protests and citizens’ actions and in our courts, other nefarious processes instigated by shadow-actors are also underway in our country through dark, informal and barbaric channels. Surprisingly, there has been no official report or communication by the police as to the established cause of these mysterious deaths,” Trapence said.

MCP president Lazarus Chakwera and UTM leader Saulos Chilima are seeking nullification of the presidential results. The Constitutional Court is scheduled to start hearing the petition on July 29.