Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate, Dickson Jackson Wasili, has emerged the victor in the ward councillor by-elections which were held yesterday in Shire Ward, Balaka Central East Constituency.
Unofficial results provided by the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) have placed the UDF candidate on first position with a total of 2,545 votes while his main rival in the race, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Ishmael Ganizani Mpinda came on second position with 1,922 votes.
Enock Gidion Chidothi of the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) grabbed the third position with 742 votes followed by the ruling Malawi Congress Party (MCP) candidate Tindo Tendai Matoga who got 274 votes.
On position five, Daudi Mpini Yassin of Umodzi Party (UP) took home 177 votes while an independent candidate, Ellason Shukullan Chambo, anchors the table with 75 votes.
Shire Ward had 24,849 potential number of voters but only 5,813 cast their votes. There were 5,735 valid votes and a total of 78 null and void votes.
Most polling centres opened as early as 06:00 o’clock in the morning and closed at exactly 06:00 in the evening.
From the start, turnout of voters was very low except for a few centres which registered a huge turnout since early morning.
However, the situation gradually picked up in the afternoon.
Speaking after the vote counting process at the district tally centre, MEC Regional Elections Officer who is also the acting director of administration and human resource at the electoral body, King Norman Rudi, described the elections in Shire Ward as successful.
“The process of voting in Shire Ward has been so peaceful because as you can see, we had no challenges and quarrels,” Rudi said.
He further added that: “the development is a reflection of the country’s blossoming democracy.”
As regards to the voter apathy, Rudi said, what matters most is that people of Shire Ward now have their representative at the District Council.
On his part, Balaka District Civic Education Officer at the National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE Trust),Henry Zechariah attributed the low turnout of voters to unfulfilled promises of politicians to their electorates.
Zachariah argued that: “When most of the leaders are elected into various positions, they shun their voters, a thing which makes people to lose their trust in the leaders.”
He further advised politicians to walk the talk if they are to win support of their electorates.
Meanwhile, MEC is today expected to announce official results of the elections from the National Tally Centre at Katoto Secondary School in Mzuzu city.
Balaka District has 8 wards and they include; Shire, Nkhonde, Chimwalire, Liwawadzi, Mulunguzi, Bwaila, Utale and Liviridzi.
Shire Ward fell vacant due to the death of the previous office holder, councillor Patrick Botomani (UDF) who died last year.
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