MCP for voters roll scrutiny

The Malawi Congress Party (MCP) says the voters roll should be verified by an independent body, arguing the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) cannot be trusted due to irregularities faced in the registration exercise.

Speaking in an interview, MCP spokesperson Jessie Kabwila said there are a number of shortfalls, some of which MEC has ignored to handle.

She said with such irregularities, it is difficult to take the voters roll as a true reflection of the exercise.

Kabwila said parties, especially MCP, are not comfortable with the way MEC is handling the registration and the whole electoral process. She said the experience that registration projections are much lower than the outcome also raises questions.

She said failure to crosscheck the figures would lead to rigging of elections, arguing rigging starts before voting.

She said political parties and other players have to fight for an independent scrutiny.

“The elections will be better if the voter roll is independently verified. Why is it that the projections are way below the outcome? MEC can’t be trusted on this,” said Kabwila.

She said the anomalies in phases five and six also make MCP uncomfortable, as a number of people were returned home without registering.

“As MCP, we are quite troubled with the way MEC is handling the registration. Why is it that phases five and six had so many anomalies such that many people failed to register and others were being sent home without registering?

“MEC brought faulty equipment. It took hours to register a person. There were long queues and the civic education was conducted concurrently with registration.

“It is disturbing to also note that people were being sent home without registering even on the last day. So, as MCP, we want the phases redone,” said Kabwila.

People’s Party (PP) spokesperson Ken Msonda said MCP is expressing fear of the unknown, arguing MEC has handled the exercise professionally and there is no need to verify the figures or reopen the centres.

In a telephone interview before asking for a questionnaire, MEC commissioner Emmanuel Chinkwita Phiri said: “Kabwila and other party officials know where to raise their concerns.”

However, MEC chief elections officer Willie Kalonga told The Nation earlier this month that MEC did not budget for some of the complaints people are raising, assuring the nation that the exercise is being handled with caution and the fears were unwarranted.