MEC extends time to submit names of monitors
Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has finally bowed down to pressure from various political parties in extending deadline for submission of names of monitors and observers during the fourthcoming watershed elections.
According to a statement issued on Saturday, the period has been extended to April 15 2019, from March 1 2019.
“This follows a request by some political parties that they needed more time to identify and recruit monitors who can effectively monitor the electoral process” reads a statement seen by Nyasa Times.
This follows a request from major political parties, namely the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Malawi Congress Party (MCP), UTM, People’s Party (PP) and United Democratic Front (UDF), a not so common unity given the tension that is always there, who jointly wrote MEC to consider the extension.
MEC wrote: “Stakeholders are advised that there shall be no further extension to this new deadline as the commission also requires adequate time to process the accreditations.”
The statement, signed by MEC chief elections officer Sam Alfandika, says only political parties and independent candidates contesting in the elections would be allowed to place monitors in polling streams and tally centres.
“Parties and independent candidates shall also be allowed to place up to four monitors for the District Council Offices and the names should be submitted to the MEC district offices,” reads the statement.
The electoral body also advises civil society organisations (CSOs) which will place observers at polling centres to submit names to MEC district offices.
All roving observers that will be stationed within a constituency should also have their names submitted to MEC district offices. All roving observers from outside the constituency should have their IDs processed by the MEC head office.
MEC is stupid to bow down to this unwarranted pressure. There is no good reason from the politiccal parties to ask for the extension. Our political parties must learn to be disciplined and respect deadlines. This happened due to sheer laziness by the political parties which ultimately sets a bad precedence such that one powerful political party will one day decide how the elections should be conducted. MEC has a code of conduct and as such must stick to it.
MEC needs monitors to run a credible election. If monitors are not there or are inadequate, it will be an uphill task for them to run the election since there won’t be any referees. They need to listen to the stakeholders if they have genuine reasons
Please don’t rush to posting nyusensi! I think this is only fair for MEC to do so because the monitors have to be identified and trained sizongotola pa Ginnery Corner