Juliana Lunguzi gets last laugh
Political gods finally smiled at incumbent Dedza East legislator Juliana Lunguzi after Malawi Congress Party (MCP) yesterday declared her winner of primary elections in the area barely 24 hours after she was controversially declared a loser.
The development, announced by party spokesperson Maurice Munthali, means that Lunguzi will now represent the country’s oldest political party in the parliamentary race in the May 21 2019 Tripartite Elections.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Lunguzi said she was grateful that the party decided in her favour after getting a report on how the primary polls were conducted.
She said: “I took the issue [the loss] with skepticism because what happened on the ground was not proper. The presiding officer did not announce results on the ground. When we look at what happened on the ground, I was not convinced that somebody did the right thing.
“You cannot have a sheet that could not even tally. I led people who were there to give a proper report after the results. I am glad that it has turned out the way they are now.”
In overturning initial results announced by presiding officer and Lilongwe Msinja North member of Parliament (MP) Peter Chalera, which indicated Lunguzi got 815 votes against 821 for Patrick Bandawe, Munthali said an independent enquiry by the party’s Directorate of Elections established that there were more than two contestants but the figures for the other aspirants were not reported.
He said: “Further, we have established that a candidate in that race, having received votes that were insufficient for a victory, is alleged to have yielded the votes his supporters cast for him to another candidate, which is not only irregular, but is unethical and a serious breach of party conduct.”
Munthali said the directorate further established that Lunguzi was not party to the collusion by other aspirants to manipulate the results of the primary elections.
But in an interview later, the MCP spokesperson could not indicate the action to be taken against the electoral team assigned to Dedza East, but said the party will put in place measures to enhance credibility of primary elections and ensure that officers tasked to manage primary elections follow stipulated regulations.
Said Munthali: “MCP has tolerated this for long enough. There are some people who deliberately want to advance personal interests above the set regulations. The silence should not be interpreted that leadership is weak. Everybody shall be held accountable if this continues.”
Besides Bandawe, who in the May 20 2014 Tripartite Elections contested on a ticket of the then governing People’s Party (PP) but lost to Lunguzi, the incumbent also faced Davie Kupemba, Mussa M’bwana, and Stephen Van Biswick.
During the 2014 parliamentary race, Lunguzi amassed 19 915 votes or 58.96 percent of the 33 775 valid votes cast in a constituency with 52 580 registered voters. Bandawe had 5 309 or 15.72 percent, Democratic Progressive Party’s Hyacinta Chikaonda got 5 939 or 17.58 percent and Leonard Chimbanga, who contested on United Democratic Front tickets received 2 612 votes or 7.73 percent. There was a 64.8 percent voter turnout in the constituency.
The Dedza East MCP primaries presiding team in the Sunday polls also included Nkhotakota Central legislator Peter Mazizi, Luwanisa Chapora and Gerald Banda.
Reacting to the Dedza East case where the primary elections had failed to take place thrice before, raising speculation that some members of the MCP politburo were out to frustrate the free-speaking Lunguzi, the party’s director of elections Elias Chakwera, who is also Dowa Ngala MP, refused to name the contestants who gave Bandawe their votes or the number of votes.
MCP’s U-turn comes after University of Livingstonia political scientist George Phiri warned the party that it risks digging its own grave ahead of the 2019 elections if it manipulates results of primary elections contrary to people’s choices.
