Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate for Nsanje South Constituency Thomson Kamangira has logged a complaint to Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) challenging unofficial results of the September 16 General Election.
The unofficial results posted at the district tally centre at Nsanje Secondary School show that he is trailing behind independent Ramzan Juma Mahomedi.
According to the figures, Kamangira polled 7 482 votes while Mahomedi was leading with 7 497.
In an interview on Sunday, Kamangira said he was not satisfied with unofficial results announced at the district tally centre, which showed him trailing Mahomedi.
He said: “On Thursday, our monitors at the constituency tally centre at Nyachilenda Teacher Development Centre issued results [that were] signed by different monitors indicating that I won the elections with 7 552 votes while my contender Mahomedi came second with 7 447 votes.
“To my surprise on Friday I just got it from the radio that my friend Mahomedi has won the seat with 7 497 votes and that I got 7 482 votes.”
In a separate interview, Nsanje district elections officer Stanley Masala acknowledged to have received the complaint from Kamangira.
“We forwarded the complaint to our headquarters together with the unofficial results, so we cannot comment further,” he said.
On his part, Mahomedi said there was no foul play and said he was leading because he had won people’s hearts with how he performed during his previous term.
Unofficial results for the constituency show that Mahomedi polled 7 497 votes, Kamangira got 7 482 votes, independent Vincent Chunga secured 5 759 votes.
Alliance for Democracy candidate Samuel Alufandika got 973 votes, Malawi Congress Party candidate Edwin Thom Orah polled 447 votes, independent Hajap Osman Nyakuleha got 99 votes and finally People’s Party candidate Anastansia Makanandula got 67 votes.
