Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and People’s Party (PP) have said they are ready to meet the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC)’s demand for an audit of the election management system.
They further accusing the commission of dishonesty in the handling of the request.
During a press briefing in Lilongwe on Wednesday, MEC chairperson Annabel Mtalimanja said the electoral body advised political parties and other stakeholders pushing for an audit of the election management system to submit scope of audit, but they have not done so.
economical with the truth.
She said MEC is still waiting for the parties to submit scope of audit to enable the commission to make a proper and informed decision on the matter.
However, reacting to the remarks in separate interviews yesterday, DPP and PP laughed off Mtalimanja’s assertion that political parties have not come forward to submit the scope of the audit.
DPP secretary general Peter Mukhito said MEC is being economical with the truth, arguing that it was MEC that initially turned down the parties’ request for an audit on the basis that it was a security issue.
He said if MEC wants the scope of the audit, the opposition parties are ready to deliver it within the week, adding all the parties want is to be provided with information on the voter register and other relevant issues to avoid mistrust around the electoral processes.
Said Mukhito: “We want to see the activities that happened after registration. We have seen that names which disappeared were uploaded without the oversight of the political parties.
“So, we will be interested again to see what other activities took place in their system during the registration period. That is what we are looking for because we believe that something fishy is happening.”
On his part, People’s Party secretary general Ben Chakhame said as far as they know, MEC turned down the political parties’ request for an audit and never asked for a scope of the audit.
However, he said by asking for a scope the audit, MEC has taken a step in the right direction and the parties will submit that.
“The commission is now conceding to the pressure. What they are looking for is not something we can’t do. We are going to do that. We will provide the scope of the audit to them and hear what they are going to say,” said Chakhame.
Mtalimanja said MEC can only make an informed decision on the matter if the parties provide a clearly defined scope of audit.
Opposition parties have been calling for audit of the system fearing that there could be attempts to rig the poll.
However, MEC has on several occasions trashed allegations of rigging, saying MEC is committed to delivering a free, fair, and credible election.
