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EU says no danger of rigging

The European Union (EU) Delegation in Malawi has ruled out chances of rigging in the upcoming May 20 Tripartite Elections, but says it anticipates logistical hiccups which are normal in any election.

EU head of delegation Alexander Baum’s remarks come against a background of fears from opposition presidential candidates who took part in the last presidential debate on Tuesday night, as well as political parties who believe incumbent President Joyce Banda would rig to win the elections.

Baum: The danger of that happened in rather limited
Baum: The danger of that happened in rather limited

Baum, whose delegation has brought in an independent EU Electoral Observer Mission which started work two weeks ago, said in an interview in Lilongwe yesterday that the EU expected the elections to be conducted in a professional and impartial manner.

However, Baum said it was important that the process be reliable enough that the results reflect the will of the people.

He said: “On the rumours of rigging, I think the danger of that happening is rather limited. We expect hiccups, because no elections can go without challenges. Logistically, it’s a complex process so we don’t expect the elections to be 100 percent perfect.”

Baum said Malawi, which is faced with a horde of development challenges, needed to look beyond elections and elect someone who would tackle the issues in a responsible manner.

He said as EU, they were not endorsing any candidate and would be ready to swiftly engage with anyone who wins to understand the new leadership’s vision for the next five years of his/her administration and what both sides can do to surpass the challenges.

On development support, Baum said EU was the only member of the Common Approach to Budget Support (Cabs) group which had an agreement with the Malawi Government for at least two years.

Baum said it was wrong to assume that donors were against the government by withholding funding, but there was a need to do more in the face of revelations of Cashgate to regain trust of donors.

He said: “There is need to do more to have a comprehensive programme for the next few years to fix this. When a new government is in place, we will start off to agree on a reform programme to establish reliability in government systems.

“This has nothing to do with this or the next or whatever government or the government per se but it has to do with governance.”

As the EU commemorates 10 years of the organisation’s enlargement and 100 years after the outbreak of World War I which led to the regional integration, Baum said the EU would continue to be a friend and partner of Malawi on the understanding of the principles of human rights, democracy and good governance and peace.

EU has contributed about a third to the electoral budget and supported civic and voter education through National Initiative for Civic Education as well as electoral stakeholders, including the police and journalists.

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