UTM withdraws from Lilongwe by-elections over rotten Malawi Electoral Commission

UTM Party has withdrawn its participation from by-the November 5 by-elections as the party presses for the resignation of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson Jane Ansah and other commissioners.

In a statement, UTM publicity secretary Joseph Chidanti Malunga says UTM continues to call into question the credibility of the May 21 tripartite elections and disputing the presidential election result in court.

“The nation will further recall that UTM has consistently called for the resignation of the chairperson for the Electoral Commission and her fellow commissioners on account of its belief that they presided over an election that was acutely wanting in credibility,” says Malunga.

He says it speaks of the moral content of the people currently leading the commission that they would insist on presiding over the election of people’s representatives when it is quite clear that the trust of the nation in their ability to do so has long disappeared.

“To the extent that this call would be inconsistent with a voluntary submission to the authority and jurisdiction of these discredited men and women, UTM finds that it cannot, in good conscience, participate in the November 5 by-elections,” says the statement.

Malawi Congress Party (MCP), the main opposition in parliament, says it would participate in the elections under serious protest.

UTM Party president Saulos Chilima is first petitioner and MCP president Lazarus Chakwera is second petitioner  in the Constitutional Court seeking nullification of the presidential election results over alleged irregularities.