President Lazarus Chakwera’s aide Adamson Kuseri Mkandawire yesterday defeated Minister of Trade and Industry Vitumbiko Mumba in the race for Malawi Congress Party (MCP) parliamentary ticket in Mzimba Central Constituency.
Before the vote, tension engulfed the atmosphere as some irate youths burnt used motor vehicle tyres and threw stones at officials to stop the exercise.
The scenes prompted MCP leaders presiding over the elections to change the venue from Chamaliba to Katungubiri, according to presiding officer Maxwell Thyolera.
about the election.| Nation
After the vote, Mkandawire amassed 262 votes while Mumba, who did not attend the exercise as he is outside the country, received five votes.
Mumba’s last ditch effort to obtain a court order to stop the process proved futile as the High Court of Malawi in Lilongwe advised his lawyer, Khumbo Soko, to file the application at the Mzuzu Registry.
In a hand-written response on the application, High Court of Malawi assistant registrar Eliya Zawanda said: “This is a matter relating to primary elections in Mzimba Central. Therefore, we refer it to the Mzuzu High Court, Civil Division.”
Thyolera said the chaotic events in the morning did not affect the elections.
“We had 30 areas that turned up, out of 40 areas that were supposed to vote, plus constituency and district delegates. So, I would not say that the events in the morning affected the elections because we changed the venue,” he said.
In an interview yesterday, Mkandawire accused Mumba of hiring the thugs to disrupt the elections.
He said: “The leadership advised that we move to a new venue. But thugs also followed us to the new venue, although security was tightened. Hence, the party hired police.
“At first we had about 10 police officers, but more came. I can’t tell why the thugs were beating up people. But they came in a brand new Prado, and started descending on people at Chamaliba Primary School in Mbalachanda Ward, which prompted us to move to Katungubiri School in Euthuni Ward.”
But in an interview last evening, Mumba said he was not aware about the primaries as he was not informed, adding, if he had been told, he would not have undertaken a private trip abroad.
He said: “No one told me that there will be primary elections today or any other day. Someone big is behind all this mess. Maxwell Thyolera cannot do what he did on his own.
“What the constituency committee was waiting for was a team from NEC to go and verify the electoral college. This was what was agreed upon between the secretary general and the constituency committee when they had a vigil at MCP headquarters.”
In a brief interview yesterday, Soko said the matter will be referred to Mzuzu High Court Registry where a judge will have to be assigned to take up the case.
Weighing in on the issue, Ernest Thindwa, an expert in electoral and identity politics, said unfair and manipulated procedures for primaries undermine the party’s ability to identify the most appealing candidate.
