Mangochi, Phalombe vote in by-elections

Registered voters in Mangochi West, Mangochi North East and Phalombe North constituencies are voting for their respective members of parliament (MPs) to fill vacnacies created by the the court nullification of thew May 21 2019 parliamentray elections.

In Phalombe North, there  was a long queu at Namanjerema poling centre as early as 5:30am voters waiting for their turn to cast a vote.

The hopefuls are  Mavuto Bokosi (independent but backed by Democratic progressive party -DPP), Promise Salima and Wilfred Lipita all independentd, Esther Kazembe for MCP and Justin Mokuwa for UTM.

About 28,670 are expected to cast their votes before polling closes at 6PM.

In Mangochi, the  District Commissioner,Dr. Raphael Piringu, who is the election’s Returning Officer, said so far there hasn’t been any serious challenges regarding the election.

The district will use Mangochi Community Technical College as tally centre for the elections with  Covid-19 measures.

“Every political party will have two monitors in the room to reduce congestion and once the counting is done we will post the results on the board and under escort, we will start off to Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) with the papers and equipment,” Piringu added.

Recently, MEC conducted trainings for all election stakeholders in the district to ensure a smooth and free by election.

MEC Director of Media and Public Relations, Sangwani Mwafulirwa said during a Multiparty Liaison Committee training at Thema 1 in Mangochi West that: “The commission is satisfied with the level of preparations for the by-election.”

During the training, MEC conducted simulation voting exercise to orient the participants on the voting process.

Mangochi West and Mangochi North-East parliamentary seats fell vacant after the High Court nullified the 2019 election results which declared Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP), Geoffrey Chiwondo and United Democratic Front’s Idi Kalosi winners for the two respective constituencies.

In Mangochi West, five candidates namely: Richard Gomani Banda (Independent); Geoffrey Meleka Chiwondo (DPP); Simeon Harrison (Independent); Reuben Kanyama (Independent); and Stanley Jubeki Phiri (UTM) are battling it out for the constituency’s parliamentary seat.

On the other hand, three candidates, namely: Duncan Mannah Cassim; Idi Kalosi and Martin Chikati Nyengo are contesting for the Mangochi North-East Constituency.

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