The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and civil society group Citizens for Credible Elections (CfCE) have warned Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) to expect more protests if it does not honour their request for an audit of its system.
In an interview yesterday, DPP organising secretary Sameer Suleman said opposition parties are ready to hold demonstrations if MEC does not change its stand on demands for an audit of its system.
The two also want MEC to discard election management devices supplied by Smartmatic.
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Suleman said concerns of opposition parties are mainly on the election management system (EMS) which they do not trust unless it is audited.
He said: “This is the first time we are using this new system and we feel there are loopholes. That is why we are saying independent ICT auditors should check the system to see if it is ok, if it is clean.”
Suleman said the disruptions of demonstrations by CfCE that were aimed at pushing for resignation of MEC chairperson Annabel Mtalimanja and chief elections officer Andrew Mpesi have fuelled the opposition parties to engage an extra gear in pushing for the audit.
In a separate interview, one of CfCE leaders Edward Kambanje said per the petition that was made to MEC, the key message was for the commission to promote people’s trust in the electoral body by allowing an independent audit of its system as well as to dump the Smartmatic devices.
He said the CfCE believes that doing so will ensure a credible election, adding if MEC can meet the demands within seven days the grouping will have no issues.
MEC spokesperson Sangwani Mwafulirwa said MEC received the CfCE’s petition calling for the resignation of the MEC chairperson and chief elections officer, an audit of the EMS, and the need to dump the Smartmatic devices.
However, he could not provide an official response of the commission on the fresh petition.
MEC recently rejected the request by parties to have its system audited by independent ICT auditors, citing security threat to its system.
The electoral body stated that the scope of audit submitted by opposition parties did not indicate irregularities in the processes to justify the audit.
