PAC tells losing parties to follow procedures on poll queries: ‘Peace is best treasure for Malawi’

Quasi-religious body, the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) has told losing political parties to use right procedures when making queries on the poll results.

PAC chairman Felix Chingota has since called upon all Malawians to uphold the prevailing peace and calm.

“We are monitoring the situation. We want the Malawi Electoral Commission to resolve all grievances before the results are released,” said Chingota.

Youth and Society executive director Charles Kajoloweka has urged the youth not to get involved in the post-election violence.

Kajoloweka said the youth should be law abiding citizens and should not be used as agents of violence.

In the statement, PAC said its mediation team continues to  undertake constructive engagement with stakeholders to advocate  for dialogue and mediation on contentious issues to secure consensus on an acceptable  minimum national  agenda in relation to the elections.

“In this regard, let us avoid to assume power through illegitimate  means for this erodes legitimacy beyond the electoral period. In  case of complaints, let us continue to use available complaints mechanisms and strike a balance between justice and peace.

“Peace is the best treasure Malawi has in its store, but this should not  imply that institutions should be bent on deliberate disregard of  principles of justice and the rule of law.

“It is PAC’s view that God will visit the conscience of those who guide decisions for the common good. If we follow unjust ways of dealing with electoral challenges, the victims from the process will   be values of truth and justice and, therefore, peace will be destabilised.”

PAC urges the country to tread cautiously in the current electoral process amid questions on the presidential election results.

The mediation initiative follows the signing of a PAC-advocated Lilongwe Peace Declaration by six of the seven presidential candidates on May 4 this year. Mutharika did not sign as the ceremony clashed with his scheduled travel to the Northern Region.

There have been pockets of violence in some parts of the central region following exit poll results which showed president Peter Mutharika victory against Malawi Congress Party’s Lazarus Chakwera.

The MCP says the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has manipulated the results in favour of Mutharika.

MEC is legally tied to announce the presidential election results following a court order MCP obtained on Saturday demanding a recount of votes in selected 10 districts.On Saturday, Chilima, who was trailing Mutharika and Chakwera in preliminary results, also demanded nullification of the presidential election results citing irregularities.

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