Thugs mount road barriers in Lilongwe Msinja South to prevent voters to cast their ballots: Kachale condemns the act

Unidentified political zealots on Tuesday morning mounted road barriers to polling centres in Lilongwe Msinja South Constituency in an apparent move to prevent voters to cast their ballots.

The erection of the road blocks prompted the pollster to seek immediate intervention of the police to ensure that registered voters are given the opportunity to cast their ballots.

The police have since quelled the situation with heavy security deployed at Chankhandwe TDC.

The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson Chifundo Kachale condemned the act, stressing that it is as retrogressive and a violation of the Electoral Act.

Except for the isolated incident, voting has generally been peaceful in Lilongwe Msinja South constituency where a total of five candidates are battling it out for the parliamentary seat formerly held by late Lingson Belekanyama who died earlier this year.

As of mid-day , there is a mixed voter turnout as some areas had long queues of people waiting to vote while others had only a few people, a development some attributed to the farming season and have given glimpse of the turnout rising in the evening.

Polling will close at 6 pm and the constituency has a total of 28 centres and 37, 500  registered voters.

The candidates contesting for the parliamentary seat are Francis Belekanyama representing Malawi Congress Party (MCP), Mustapha MacDonald – Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Independent Candidates namely Ruth Chatata, Yamikani Jones Chadza, and Lameck Kondesi.