Two parliamentary aspirants failed to present their nominations in Nsanje South Constituency after they both claimed to be bonafide Malawi Congress Party (MCP) candidates for the forthcoming elections.
The incident occurred on Tuesday as the two, Maxon Kadalinga and Bester Hassan Chiungano, were geared to present their papers under one banner.
In an interview, Chiungano said he got the nominations paper from MCP officials in Blantyre who confirmed his victory at second primary elections that were held in the constituency.
“After the party held a rerun I was declared the winner and they invited me at our headquarters where they gave me nomination form to present today. But I was surprised that my friend was also ready to present his papers, there is confusion,” said Chiungano.
According to MCP district governor Stephano Forty, the party held two primary elections and one candidate won the second.
“We had first election where there were less number of people and Chiungano became victorious while in the second election it was Kadalinga who won and it was attended by more people than the first election, however they all claim they are going to contest on MCP ticket,” said Forty.
Forty has since said the matter is now in the hands of the senior authority who are expected to advise which candidate will represent the party in the 21st May 2019 tripartite elections.
Meanwhile, Nsanje District Commissioner Reinghard Chavula has said the two should not present their papers until the matter is sorted out.
“I have been advised to instruct the CRO (Constituency Returning Officer) not to receive the papers from the two candidates today. The party has asked for time to resolve the matter,” said commissioner.
Nomination of presidential, parliamentary and council candidate started on Monday 4th February and is expected to end on Friday, 8th February.
