A three day electoral stakeholders meeting in Karonga district ended on Monday with Paramount Chief Kyungu of Karonga and Chitipa calling upon all candidates contesting in the tripartite polls to accept the elections results to prevent post election violence.
The meeting was organized under the theme, Unity and not Division.
Kyungu said if the district is to grow economically, socially and democratically then there is need for political party leaders to accept the elections results with dignity, saying at every competition, there is always one winner.
“I am glad that the campaign has ended with no reports of political violence as candidates concentrated on issue based politics. Let that spirit continue after elections. Winners should celebrate peacefully and losers should also accept the results with dignity and move on for the sake of peace, love and socio economic development of the country.
“If contesting candidates do not peacefully accept results and resort to violence, people cannot go to work, people cannot go to their businesses, learners cannot go to school, thereby creating unnecessary tension, Kyungu said.
Kyungu further advised the youths in Karonga to be patriotic and respectful of the law if they are to become productive citizens of the country, saying as leaders of tomorrow, they should not be used by failed politicians to incite political violence after elections just because results did not go their way.
Speaking at the same event, Reverend Captain Makuni Gondwe of the Salvation Army advised the Malawi Electoral Commission to regularly civic educate the electorates on every electoral process to bridge the communication gap that results in bringing in confusion amongst voters and candidates.
“The vacuum is always the devil’s workshop. Some of the misunderstanding amongst voters and candidates come about due to lack of critical and useful information from MEC. We, therefore urge MEC to constantly provide information so that people should be abreast with what is happening rather than speculating that may end up in confusing issues,” he said.
Taking her part, Karonga business association (KBA) representative Mirriam Mhango said the meeting came at the right (a day before elections) whose significance could not be over emphasized, saying candidates and supporters should accept results of the elections to avoid disturbing daily businesses.
At the end of the meeting traditional leaders, political party representatives, the clergy, civil society organizations (CSOs) and the District Council signed a declaration peace code.
Evangelical Association of Malawi organized the meeting to preach peace, love and unity to electorates and candidates after the Tuesday’s second Tripartite Elections
