Ansah says Malawians want clean electioneering: Insists MEC will deliver credible fresh vote

Embattled Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson Jane Ansah has  insisted that the  electoral body will  deliver a “free, fair and credible” July 2 fresh presidential election and President Peter Mutharika and his challengers to employ an issue-based campaign.

In her address on the second day of receiving presidential nomination papers at Soche International Conference Centre at Sunbird Mount Soche in Blantyre which involved Mutharika presidenting his papers with Minister of Energy Atupele Muluzi as his choice of running mate, Ansah said the exercise presents a defining moment as it shapes the election race.

She applauded Mutharika for taking a bold move to contest in the fresh elections.

Said Ansah: “Elections  are a competition which no-one participates with an expectation of losing. However, it remains a clear fact that only one person emerges winner at the end. The race sometimes can get intense and muddy. I urge you to confine yourself to a civilised campaign. Malawians are tired of mud-slinging and foul-mouthed electioneering. For a change, they want this election to be issue-based. I would like to urge you, Sir, to champion the cause for a clean campaign.”

Ansah—a judge of the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal— said her commission will work with impartiality in all processes.

She also stressed that an election is a competition where there can only be one winner.

The speech by Ansah came after President Mutharika said in his speech that said Malawians voted last year in an election that was free, fair, peaceful and credible.

The elections were annulled by the Constitution Court.

A five-judge panel of the High Court of Malawi sitting as the Constitutional Court on February 3 nullified last year’s presidential election over alleged irregularities, especially in the results management system, as prayed by the country’s estranged Vice-President Saulos Chilima of UTM Party and Chakwera. The court ordered a fresh election in 150 days, which expires on July 3.

Meanwhile, the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal is on Friday set to deliver its judgement on an appeal of the Constitutional Court judgement filed by MEC and Mutharika.

If the seven-judge Supreme Court panel upholds the judgement, the election will proceed. However, if it overturns the same, the vote will not take place.