…says June 23 election not fair, credible
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) says the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) should declare that there is no winner in the 2020 Presidential Elections and declare that Fresh Presidential Elections be held.
This is contained in a letter dated June 26, signed by DPP Administrative Secretary Francis Mphepo and addressed to MEC chairperson Chifundo Kachale.
The commission’s spokesperson Sangwani Mwafulirwa has confirmed that MEC has received the complaint titled ‘Complaint against massive irregularities affecting integrity and credibility of the presidential election results in central region and Mzimba districts’.
The DPP in the letter says the elections have been affected by intimidation, savagery and improper influence hence the results are suspect and invalid.
The party then demands MEC to declare that the “Presidential Election has been inconclusive”, that there is “no winner or loser in the Presidential Election” and that “there be a Fresh Presidential Election”.
According to the DPP, its monitors were excluded and prevented from carrying out their duties in Nkhotakota, Salima, Dowa, Lilongwe, Dedza, Ntcheu, Mchinji and Mzimba.
The party says the monitors were intimidated and attacked by Malawi Congress Party (MCP) functionaries as well as Gulewamkulu hence they could not lodge complaints to presiding officers.
The party claims that the conduct of the MCP functionaries undermines the conduct of free, fair and credible elections.
“Specifically, over 1,500,000 votes which are attributable to voting in these districts are in dispute and have been affected by the malpractices, violence and intimidation.
“Clearly, the results in the Central Region districts and Mzimba district cannot be said to be credible and valid,” the party says.
It adds that it would be unsafe, unconstitutional and against principles of fairness for MEC to declare a winner or a loser in the elections without adjudicating on the complaints by the DPP.
“We take the position that on their own, these irregularities can affect the result of an election eventually resulting in the nullification of the results by the courts,” the party argues.
The DPP then expresses hope that MEC will act on the complaint to avoid another protracted litigation over presidential elections.
Meanwhile, Mwafulirwa has said the commission is looking into the complaint and will give a response.
Unofficial results of the June 23 elections show that DPP’s candidate, President Peter Mutharika, has lost to Lazarus Chakwera of the MCP.
So if the elections were not fair then who are those thousands of people have voted in those areas? No logic in the argument.