Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) says it is considering a request by opposition political parties for an independent information and communications technology (ICT) audit of the election management system.
MEC chairperson Annabel Mtalimanja, speaking in an interview yesterday in Lilongwe on the sidelines of a Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) Electoral Commission Forum annual meeting for commissioners and chief elections officer which MEC is hosting, said the opposition parties submitted the scope of audit on May 21.
soon. | George Singin
She said MEC was looking into the request and will respond in due course.
Said Mtalimanja: “If you recall, the position of the commission has been that we cannot grant open access to our system because of security concerns. That remains the position.
“When we were requesting for the scope, we wanted to understand what is it that the parties are looking for and what are the terms of the audit that they are requesting for.”
On the transmission of elections results, another contentious issue in the run up to the September 16 General Election, she said the electoral body will use both electronic and manual transmission. She added that so far it is only five out of the 24 registered political parties demanding for a manual transmission.
“The indication of the commission has been that, as we have been doing with other processes like registration, transfers and inspection, we will present the module to the political parties. Then we are going to hear from them, we are going to have those consultations and the commission will make decision in terms of how we are moving forward,” said Mtalimanja, a judge of the High Court of Malawi.
But People’s Party (PP) secretary general Ben Chakhame, who has been speaking on behalf of political parties on the audit issue, said by now MEC should have responded to the request for the election management system audit or at least provided a timeline for the response.
In an interview yesterday, he said the delay to respond pointed to lack of seriousness to address the issue.
Said Chakhame: “They were supposed to say the scope is okay and we should agree on how the engagement of auditors will happen or they would say they don’t want.”
But in a separate interview, United Democratic Front (UDF) spokesperson Dyson Jangiya hailed MEC for taking a step to deliberate on the submission by parties, but said the opposition parties expect that a decision will be made as soon as possible.
Governance expert Moses Mkandawire also said the step by MEC to deliberate on the scope of audit is a good development despite the delay to respond.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), PP, UDF, Alliance for Democracy and UTM Party have been demanding that MEC should allow independent ICT auditors to audit its system to ensure that it is not corrupted.
They have also been against MEC’s decision to hire Smartmatic as supplier of election management devices arguing that the supplier has a questionable reputation in as far as promoting credible elections is concerned.
Meanwhile, the Sadc Electoral Commissions Forum, during its ongoing meeting in Lilongwe, has provided a platform for electoral bodies to exchange ideas on management of elections, promoting best practices and ensuring that elections are held in line with the laws of the country.
In his remarks yesterday, Sadc Electoral Commission Forum vice-chairperson Mphasa Mokhochane said one way of ensuring credible elections is having activities done in good time, adding that one of the most challenging thing is having the voters roll.
He expressed satisfaction with MEC’s voters roll, saying it is of high quality and people can easily be identified without needing other documents to identify them.
“But we don’t know how it was collected, and whether people are happy,” said Mokhochane.
He advised MEC to ensure effective engagement with political parties and ensure that any issues with parties are resolved.
Malawians will go to the polls on September 16 to elect a President, 229 legislators and over 500 ward councillors.
