Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD) has urged political party monitors to prioritise credibility, inclusivity and cooperation over fault-finding to ensure public trust in the September 16 General Election.
Speaking in Lilongwe on Monday after a training session for monitors from the Central Region, CMD executive director Boniface Chibwana said party agents are the first line of accountability in ensuring the integrity of voting, tallying and results transmission.
avoid disputes. | Nation
“Monitors are being reminded that the results they sign for at polling stations are the same that will be scanned and sent electronically to the national tally centre. Sharing notes and building consensus is vital to avoid disputes,” he said.
Chibwana said monitors must be fully conversant with both manual and electronic aspects of results management and maintain constant communication between polling centres and the main tally centre.
Commenting on complaints management, he highlighted greater involvement of the Judiciary in grievance redress as a key reform to ensure that cases are resolved within strict timelines, unlike in the past when disputes were often settled after results had already been announced.
In 2019, disputes involving party monitors over tally sheets and altered results fed into the court-ordered 2020 fresh presidential election, which remains a defining moment in the country’s democracy.
Chibwana warned monitors against adopting a combative approach, urging them to build rapport with presiding officers and fellow monitors to resolve disputes at the polling station before escalating them.
Harrison Bokola, one of the participants representing the governing Malawi Congress Party (MCP), welcomed the training as “timely and necessary,” saying ignorance of electoral procedures often fuels suspicion, bias, and even violence.
“When monitors understand their roles, they focus on their duties and let other stakeholders do theirs. If monitors from different parties work together, they can safeguard credibility and manage disagreements constructively,” he said.
CMD has since called on political parties to cascade the training to their grassroots structures, ensuring that every polling station has well-prepared monitors. According to Chibwana, this is vital if the September elections are to be widely accepted as free, fair and credible.
