MEC quashes Forum on postponing Malawi polls
The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has cautioned all interested parties in the electoral process to refrain from commending on electoral issues they don’t know or understand.
In an interview, MEC spokesperson Sangwani Mwafulirwa expressed dismay towards remarks by the Forum for National Development (FND) suggesting that the elections date should be changed due to a number of irregularities associated with the election process.
Mwafulirwa condemned FND for rushing to the media rather than presenting their issues to the commission.
“We have worked on the inconsistencies that were discovered in the voters roll and we are now ready to resume the exercise, it surprising to note by the time FND was making wrong comments about that issue we had already announced the resumption of the verification process by Wednesday April 9,” he said.
Mwafulirwa added that such sentiments only show that FND was not literate on electoral issues.
On the issue of irregularities during the off loading of tents and gas lamps from Zimbabwe, Mwafilirwa said it was shocking to hear FND making such accusations while it did not make itself available to witness the exercise despite MEC calling all stakeholders to come forward.
He advised FND to rise above politics and present to the public accurate facts as doing otherwise would make people think they are promoting a particular political agenda.
On the hard disk drive issue, Mwafulirwa said the issue was already dealt with by the court,.
“The person is now serving a two year jail term and everyone knows it was not the working of the Commission but a particular individual,” said Mwafulirwa.
The MEC spokesperson assured all stakeholders of the highest commitment by the Commission to hold a credible Tripartite Election on 20th May this year.
During a news conference in Blantyre Sunday, FND called on the Malawi electoral body to demonstrate that the forthcoming tripartite elections will be handled with integrity, prudence and acceptable manner to all people from both government and opposition parties.
Chairperson for FND Bright Kampaundi said they had noted a number of challenges encountered by MEC while preparing for the tripartite elections.
Kampaundi said among his organizations concerns was the suspended voter verification exercise due to anomalies and loss of a computer hard disc at MEC offices.
He said such challenges would lead to speculation about tampering with voter’s information.
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