The Malawi Congress Party (MCP) has declared Bennex Mwamlima winner of the party’s primary elections in Mzuzu City Constituency ruling out allegations of the presence of ineligible voters.
The allegations were made by one of the losers, William Mkandawire who is also the current Mayor of Mzuzu and Councillor for Mchengautuba East Ward.
Speaking at Hilltop in Mzuzu on Sunday, presiding officer for the elections, Clement Manda who is also MCP Youth Chairperson in north-south region declared Mwamlima winner with 805 votes against Mkandawire’s 352 votes.
Another candidate was Alfred Mwenifumbo who got four votes out of the total 1061 votes cast at the elections.
“As presiding officer for this election, I can say that the elections have gone well. We counted figures from two aspirants, Mr Mwenifumbo who had 4 votes and Bennex Mwamlima who had 805 votes.
“We had problems with Hon Mkandawire’s camp that is where we did not count because they refused, but because we knew the total number of people who were here, we have done the subtraction and addition,” said Manda.
But Mkandawire while addressing his supporters accused the party of allowing ineligible voters to swell Mwamlima’s votes.
The Mzuzu Mayor, however, calmly advised his irate followers to peacefully disperse to their homes.
Manda, however, dismissed Mkandawire’s sentiments arguing that the election was free and fair.
“It was a heated election. The election was free and fair. We scanned all eligible voters before entry at the gate, so everyone who was here was an eligible voter,” said Manda.
According to Manda, the voters were subjected to a lengthy verification process at the gate where 1061 eligible voters were allowed to enter the premises as indicated on the party’s voter’s roll which was composed of MCP members selected from 118 areas in Mzuzu City.
The peaceful primaries by MCP in Mzuzu City Constituency were preceded by equally peaceful primaries in Mzimba North East on Saturday where former Parliamentarian Catherine Gotani Hara emerged winner after beating four other contenders.
