There can be no election without irregularities – Mathanga

Commissioner Jean Mathanga of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) says it is unfair to judge the MEC for mistakes in the May 21 Elections because it is impossible to have elections without irregularities.

Mathanga made the remarks on Tuesday when she appeared before the Public Appointments Committee (PAC) of Parliament.

She said it is wrong to say MEC was incompetent because in elections things can go wrong somewhere even when processes are put in place.

“You will agree with me that to administer an election from Nsanje to Chitipa  in 5002 centres and dealing with over 10,000 staff, and these are temporary staff, you are bound to have some of the things going wrong. And for us to be judged for some mistakes here and there, I don’t think it will be fair to the MEC,” she said.

Mathanga during the hearing also defended the commission’s decision to announce the presidential results before the commissioners had signed for the results.

She said the commissioners had already made a declaration of the results but the documents were not ready and they agreed that the signing will be done the next day.

“We cannot make an announcement before a resolution. A resolution was made and what remained was the signing,” said Mathanga.

She added that the commissioners looked at every result tally sheet for the presidential elections before making a determination of the results.

On the Constitutional Court’s nullification of the May 21 Presidential Elections, Mathanga said the commission is appealing because it is not satisfied with the ruling.

According to Mathanga, the commissioners are happy that they did the right job in the management of the elections and they are vindicated by the court’s finding that there was no rigging to the advantage of any candidate in the presidential elections.

In its ruling on February 3, the Constitutional Court nullified the presidential election and ordered MEC to hold fresh elections.