The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) says it has launched investigations into reports that Malawi Congress Party’s candidate in the Dedza Central constituency by-elections Willard Gwengwe was campaigning on the polling day.
On Tuesday, MEC closed the campaign period and warned political parties against campaigning outside the campaign period ahead of the Dedza central constituency by-elections yesterday, Thursday where MCP’s Gwengwe, DPP’s Andrew Ndekha Ntunga Kowedza and Jacob Joseph Kaumphawi an independent candidate battled it out for the constituency’s parliamentary seat.
However, social media was awash with reports that MCP candidate, Gwengwe despite the warning by MEC, was on Wednesday going around the constituency using his car which had campaign materials in what people believe to be the continuation of his campaign.
Apart from that, other reports indicate that the MCP candidate was on the polling day (Thursday) going around polling stations campaigning from his election which is against MEC election rules and laws.
A video circulating on social media shows an individual who seem to be one of the election monitors explaining that Gwengwe went to one of the polling centers and that he personally urged the candidate to be 100 meters away from the polling station.
“He was here, after seeing that I have a badge (MEC Identification) he dropped from his car and went to the other side of the building. Then I called fellow officers to let them see what was happening. There were some people who were coming to cast their votes and unfortunately he approached them, greeting them which is against the laws because he never got registered from this station,” explained the individual who was being interviewed by the media.
Speaking to members of the press after the close of voting exercise on Thursday, November 16, 2023, MEC Chairperson Chifundo Kachale, disclosed to have received a complaint of Gwengwe’s conduct in the by-election.
Kachale said one of the contesting parties lodged a complaint about Gwengwe’s conduct and that the commission has since launched investigations on the complaint to determine if the conduct has impacted the result of the election.
“On that incident, we require our presiding officers to give us comprehensive incident reports as part of the final report for the polling. We will assess the evidence on that issue and decide whether that conduct has impacted the result of the poll and that will be determined when we meet as a commission to determine the results tomorrow,” said Kachali.
The MEC boss further disclosed that the commission is also investigating reports that unregistered person managed to vote in the same by-election.
Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports indicate that Gwengwe has emerged winner of Dedza Central Constituency by-elections with 7,913 votes, with independent candidate Jacob Joseph Kaumphawi scooping 7,361 votes, while Democratic Progressive Party’s Andrew Kowedza managed to get 403 votes.
