Chakwera joins Chilima to snub EU over fresh Malawi elections observer report

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president Lazarus Chakwera has joined his UTM Party counterpart Saulos Chilima in declining a proposed meeting with a visiting EU Elections Observer Mission which is due to arrive in the country Wednesday.

The party’s Secretary General Eisenhower Mkaka has confirmed, saying the party has communicated its position to EU Mission in Lilongwe.

Earlier, MCP said it received an invitation to attend the meeting and will honour it.

However, Mkaka said MCP has reservations with the timing of the meeting and that Chakwera like Chilima will not be party to it.

“Dr Chakwera will not be attending the meeting, the EU could have presented their final report  before the elections case,” he said.

EU Deputy Head of Mission Aurelie Valtat, who is also head of the political and media office, said the arrival of the mission was normal and routine.

Valtat said it is  a “standard return mission” and that it is “not unique to Malawi.”

The EU EOM had 83 observers at 342 polling stations across 120 of the country’s 193 parliamentary constituencies in 27 of the 28 districts during the elections.