MEC says expect ‘shortcuts’ to fresh elections: 50%+1 system will not be used

March 15, 2020 Nyasa Times Reporter 74 Comments

Private practice lawyer Tamanda Chokhotho hired by the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has said fresh presidential elections  will proceed as ordered by the High Court but said there will be some shortcuts to ensure processes are done.

Ansah said the 50 percent plus one rule will not be applicable

Chokhotho said MEC would respect the Constitutional Court ruling to hold the fresh presidential elections within 150 days from February 3 as the court directed following Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal  dismissing MEC application for the court to stop electoral processes until the appeal case is heard.

“This means that the electoral process needs to be expedited. Let’s hope that all will end well. As the Supreme Court has said they will have to rework their calendar to fit in the period that has been ordered by the court,” said Chokhotho.

On her part, MEC chairperson Jane Ansah told delegates to the National Elections Consultative Forum (Necof) meeting in Blantyre on Friday the electoral body is not ready to hold fresh presidential elections on May 19 2020 as proposed by Parliament.

Among others, Ansah told delegates from different political parties, civil society organisations, religious groups, academia, the commission’s registration kits can only work in six phases of 14 days each as set out by the law.

This means that the registration exercise can only take place in a minimum of 84 days while there are only 62 days before May 19.

“The law provides that registration will be done for a minimum of 14 days. Since that is the law, we cannot do otherwise but do the registration in 14 days but we have a limited number of equipment and that will allow us to have six phases,” said Ansah.

Ansah, who is also a Supreme Court of Appeal judge, said in the fresh election, MEC would use the existing laws that it used in 2019 meaning that it will use the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) system to determine the winner and not 50 percent plus one vote rule as directed by the Constitutional Court.

This, she said, was because the bills that Parliament amended were yet to be assented to by President Peter Mutharika.

Further, Ansah said the 50 percent plus one rule will not be applicable because it was an interpretation of a lower court (High Court) arguing the Supreme Court of Appeal already ruled during the 1999 elections on what majority votes meant.

Said Ansah: “As we are today, the law that is applicable and the law that the commission can use to go ahead with fresh elections is the law that was there in 2019 because the amendments that were made to the electoral laws have not yet been assented to.

“There is also a Supreme Court interpretation of Section 80 (2) and according to practice, the Supreme Court Judgement is more binding than the High Court judgement.  So the commission does not have a clear way forward on what law to apply and what should be done. [But] the law that is there today is the law which we will use.”

MEC’s request that fresh elections should be held in October was rejected by the court.

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74 replies on “MEC says expect ‘shortcuts’ to fresh elections: 50%+1 system will not be used”

  4. This is an organization which by all standards it has been assessed as incompetents right away from the Chair through to all members even to those who insist that they are competent when all thier incompetence have been identified and communicated to them. Let them not even talk of organising any elections because they are still incompetent and their incompetence runs deep as demonstrated by the high court and the PAC of Parliament. Why do they impose theselves on us? Shame on you

  5. Jane Ansah or Answer please do not waste your time saying this and that resign and let those who can manage MEC

  7. This lady she is fool I thought she was saying that she was waiting for the court ruling ? So what happened? I thought court ruled against you? So why are still hanging on that posts? We don’t trust you anymore gooooo please

  11. We had enough days to prepare for the elections when the court ruled on February 3. We had 150 days to elections. MEC and DPP played the delayed tactics on purpose so don’t tell us now that we don’t have enough time to the elections. If you followed what the court ruled on February 3, you could’ve had more than enough days to prepare for the elections. Shupiti!!

  12. COnCourt erred by giving 150 days. Those corrupt judges will learn why presidential poll results are not annulled willy-nilly.

    1. They did not err at all. Its APM and MEC who are playing delaying tactics. If APM is not reading the writings on the wall, he will be pushed out like Al-Bashir of Sudan. Don’t say you were not warned!!

      1. @amadeus usamataye nthawi ndi anthu ngati awa, amenewa asiye abanamizana chonchi!! Ngati akuona ngati a Malawi akusewela phada asiye adziwanso m’mene adadziwila za ku court muja…………………..!! Munthu akamafa samamvaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!! Jane Ansah anakalamba, don’t forget she started work in 1975, nde munthu okalamba ndi wa ngawa heavyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!

  13. Well done Ansah for explaining that it is going to be ‘short cut’. And short cut it is as there is no time and the foolish judges missed an opportunity to push the poll forward just because of the bribe they got from Arafat, Kasambara and Chakwera.

  14. Iron Lady is used to short cut so nothing strange with what she is saying .

    (1) She used short cut to elect Peter as president of the Republic of Malawi through the use of Tippex.
    (2) Mama Nkosi the commissioner confess that they sign declaration that Peter has won on the day of inauguration, this is another short cut of Jane Ansah.
    (3) she declared that Muntharika has won election even b4 Madando 147 were looked at.
    (4) She hired foreign lawyers without thinking of Taxpayers another short cut.

    So expect more short cut from her as it is in her blood vessels.

      2. No wonder you were given the name “Gaga” some call it “Deya” meaning “useless”!! Gaga you’re indeed “useless” and your thinking is just a mirror image of your nameeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! My foot!

    3. Omutsatilawonso ndi akhungutu kapena gulu la afiti latchukalitu, Ndi dyerekezi wotembereredwa jane ansah. Kodi akuzitenga ngati opambana kuposa Malawi?

  17. aa kkkkk we thought its you you made the shortcuts?????????,, musanamalize kuwelenga ma vote inu mai munati wawina ndi namapando manoyo.!!!

    eeeee musatipake ndele zanuzi.
    ife tinacita cilungamo monga munatiuzila kaponyedwe ka vote hetini, tinadzukadi 2am kukafola pa mizere inu namumwa ma coffee, ltte, capucino etc. ife kuzizila kuli thoo.nde kumakambaso za manyi ndi nsete zanu!!! lelo?
    mxii musatinunkhitse dzifuseni nokha

  18. Jane ansah……dont force us into killing you. Dont be stupid. Alright????? You are taking us for fools eti? Panyini pako ndithu. Fuck you.

  20. Awa a Jane Ansah eeeehazikakakamila izi zovotesani zili Ni ndalama eti Ngati u president alibe makutu Kuti amve dziko likunena Za iye

  21. Why are newspapers still giving this woman oxygen? With everything she has done she doesn’t deserve any attention. She is not above the law. Do not listen to any rubbish that is coming out of her mouth. It is total nosense. The Supreme Court is going to sentence her to prison with hard labour. Mark my words. No prisoner can be allowed to run an election.

      1. I just wanted to know after the Supreme Court of Appeal sentence her to 25 years in jail with hard labour. Where else will she appeal her case? Will she still run the elections while in jail? The Constitution Court and Parliment already found her guilty of negligence what every sane Malawian is waiting for is sentencing.

      2. ConCourt judges and Supreme judges will have to go to prison first for getting bribes and misleading the country.

        1. You have evidence sue them. Prove your point in court of law. What are you waiting for? But Jane is going to jail. She is guilty of negligence. She can’t escape prison.

  22. N’chachidziwire kuti vote simukuifuna ndiye mukupanga zinthu monyinyiriika, za kukana nsalu ya akulu n’kuviika. Zimenezi munayambira kale kuyambira kukana kuti mlandu usalowe mkhothi, Kaphale kuchedwetsa zochitika mkhothi ndi zina. Koma Mulungu akudziwa zolinga zanu ndipo mukonzekere kudzayankha. You won’t be able to bribe God,the Righteous Judge and the Most High! Zonsezi mumachita ndipo mukuchita dala ndi kukula mtima!!

  23. This lady is a joke! Why all this stubbornness really? Can’t she see that power is changing hands?

  24. Why did ConCourt tackle the issue of 50+1 when the Supreme court had already addressed it in 1999? Why did the ConCourt give just 150 days to conduct elections when the full processes would require more than that period? Sinister motives, perhaps?

  27. No ways we want 51+, moreover you’re not allowed to conduct any elections you’re still there because of peter 40th day is coming.

  28. mayi ansa, if i were you, i would have shut down my mouth. otherwise ukudzetsa mkwiyo m’mitima mwa anthu. so respect yourself by shutting up your sinus.

  29. We have a big problem!!!! , NOOOOOOOOOO Ugly Duck you can’t take short cuts, if you had stepped aside and let capable people take over, we would not have found ourselves in this state.

  30. There are now travel bans around the world of up to 30 days due to Corona-virus which means MEC officials can’t travel to procure materials. Ma judge anthu kusaganiza. Kuzolowera kudya mango.

  31. This is what the foolish judges wanted. Can’t believe that we have judges who don’t think. When MEC asked for a stay order they quashed it. Now this election is going to be messed up just because our judiciary is bribed and can’t think rationally.

  32. The reason why majority of Malawians have been wanting Ansah to go is her incompetence and arrogance. She has started giving excuses, when they had all the time to start preparations. Out of 150 days, half of them wasted. Clear example of incompetence of how Ansah’s MEC has been. Give the job to other able Malawians.

    Court ruled. MEC /APM have been deliberately dilly dallying. Why wait? This is gross incompetence. Yes, MEC and APM had the right to go to Supreme court. But did going to court mean that MEC had to put brakes on the ConCourt ruling and do notthing as regards to preparing for the fresh elections pending Supreme Court ruling in MECs favour? MEC should have already started working based on both probabilities i.e. stay the ruling or rejecr stay of ConCourt ruling. They would have had all the time to prepare. Now MEC has been caught pants down with the rejection of stay of order by the Supreme Court and now they are giving excuses about number of days left to elections. This is treating Malawians like fools.

  34. We are in this mess because u refused to resign.As for me I will only vote if we have new MEC officials

  35. Am I missing something here, in another headline MEC hired South African lawyers (at taxpayers expense) because Malawian lawyers refused to take their case, but in this story Tamanda Chokhotho is speaking ‘as private lawyer MEC hired’. Someone enlighten me, unless Tamanda Chokhotho is a foreign name as well..

  36. MEC are in this situation because of arrogance, if they had started the election preparations as soon as the concourt gave the ruling they would not have been in the situation they are in now.
    But because mai Madando in her capacity as Supreme Court judge thought that she is smarter that the concourt judges and therefore she will be able to stop the ruling in its tracks. The truth of the matter is that MEC has only started preparing for the elections last week after the Supreme Court ruling not to give them the stay order they had applied for.

    All I can say now is this, if anything goes wrong with the upcoming elections in May the blame will lay squarely on the MEC chair. She has been making decisions on her own taking advantage of the incompetence of the other commissioners because of her background as a judge.

    On one hand she is telling us that the MEC are preparing for the May elections and on another hand she is spending K600 million of tax payers money trying to stop the same election her organisation is preparing for, where exactly are her interests?

    Is this not the reason why people want her to resign so that new leadership with no conflict of interest should lead the organisation to prepare for the elections? Why is she clinging to her position when her employers, the Malawi taxpayers don’t want her, what point is she trying to prove. Last time she fooled Malawians in believing that she will resign if the concourt find MEC wanting, but she never did, and now she want to waste even more taxpayers money by hiring foreign lawyers just to try to save her face.

    My last message to mai Madando is this, in 1915 when white colonialists masters thought that Malawians are so docile and passive, Livingstone was slaughtered one night in cold blood. In 1994 when the MCP thought that Malawians cannot vote for multiparty politics, that is exactly what Malawians, voted for.

    If Mai Madando thinks that after all the mess she has caused our country to go through like, messing up our election in 2019 for the love of money, the damages to property caused by riots due to her refusal to resign, the taxpayers money wasted in courts to defend the indefensible, and her shear arrogance in the face of Malawians that all this shall go unpunished then she is making a very big mistake.

    After all this is said and done my advice to mai Madando is that leave our country as soon as possible to enjoy your blood money elsewhere on planet earth. Because as long as I live I will make sure that mai Madando after all the damage she has cause to our country should never live in peace to enjoy her blood money within the borders of our country.

    We have people dying in hospitals due to lack of medicine and yet she has the audacity of spending millions to appeal the concourt ruling for personal reasons. If democracy is not cheap why can she not let the elections to go ahead without wasting more money on appeals?

  37. Kokakoka, nyasalanda wavuta. Mphira zayamba kununkha. Auze ansah, concourt 5 amaziyesa madolo by reinterpretation of majority. AMalawi osaziwa malamulo asiyeni. Iwo a kuganizabe kuti all past presidents were not dully elected, ndipo mcp is still the legitimate ruling party.

    1. Why do you need registration of voters? What happened to the voters roll used in the 2019 elections

  39. This woman called Ansah has already started her tricks. MEC /APM had 150 days to start preparing. Now she’s complaining they only have 62 days.

    Parliament were quick to make the amendments, long time ago in compliance with the court ruling. Whereas APM has been sitting on the bills for more than 21 days deliberately trying to buy time. And APM has been further been non complaint with the ConCourt ruling by not acting on parliaments recommendations on MEC Commissioners.

    This woman and APM deserve harsh punishments once DPP gets kicked out of government. Ansah has not got the powers to determine which laws to use. APM cannot be taking Malawians for fools forever. We need to set examples for future leaders and these examples shall be APM and Ansah. Lock them up for a very long period.

      1. I wouldn’t be so smug if I were you. APM and Ansah may seem to still be riding high, but it’s just a question of time before they come tumbling down. Her fellow Supreme Court justices do not seem to be impressed by her antics. And does Ansah really believe that UNDP can put their money into MEC again with her still at the helm after the audit debacle? Ansah will not oversee the next elections: It’s not a question of whether she will go; rather it’s a question of when…

  40. Mayiwa akufuna nkhondo tsopano. Makhothi akuonetsani kuti malamulo simukuwadziwa Mayi Ansaha ngaljale muli Judge,nde lero mukuti muyendera malamulo a kale. Kodi apa zilutanthauza kuti mwalimbikra kuyendeta chisankho chinanco ndi Alfandika wanuyo? Nkhondotu iyi mayi mukuyiputayi. Tayesani tione m’memne zithere. A Malawi siopusa, ndipo zolinga zanu sizitheka.

  42. Tadziwonani khope ngati osambitsa maliro. Both Kachitungwi Alfandika and Madando Ansah are the epitome of evils. They are agents of dark world to which they offer blood of Malawians.

    1. Sometimes i wonder, do you think there is anyone out there so perfect that will be liked by everyone?

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