Malawi's 2014
election, like South Africa's, marked the country's 20 year of democracy. It
also introduced a week of electoral ordeals.
by Iske Conradie
The high court in Malawi,
granted the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) the go-ahead with counting votes on
Saturday, after Malawian president, Joyce Banda invalidated the elections,
earlier the day.
Malawi opened polling station on Tuesday morning, 20 May
2014, only 13 days after South Africa's elections. This is
Malawi's first tripartite elections meaning Malawians will elects
the president, members of parliament and local government within the same
election.
Following the elections
earlier the week, defending president, Joyce Banda, made a public "proclamation"
on Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS), stating that the election was annulled,
because of "fraudulent and rampant irregularities."
Judging the president
"I hereby further
proclaim that Tripartite Elections for the election of President, Members of
Parliament and Councilors shall be held within ninety days of the date of this
Proclamation," she said in her proclamation.
Banda made a public
statement that she would not be participating as presidential
candidate in the elections postponed in three months time.
The
MEC and the Malawi Law Society applied for a judicial review of Banda's order
to continue with the election procedures. They were granted an injunction,
which restricts the president and any of her aides from obstructing electoral
proceedings, until the High Court resolves the case.
President edits decree
Banda had made an
election-annulling announcement earlier on Saturday, but reiterated a corrected
announcement on ZBS later the day. She stated that she had initially misattributed
the section of the Constitution she would employ to cancel electoral outcomes.
On Saturday evening
Google had added a notification to the search result of ZBS's online radio
site, www.zodiakmalawi.com, warning users that the site "might be hacked".
Isolated electoral troubles
Voting
continued until Thursday, although Malawi's official Elections Day was Tuesday,
13 days after South Africa's election, because there were electoral
disturbances at certain polling stations.
In
a statement regarding the observations of its Malawi election observation
mission, The European Union's (EU) said there was "considerable
organisational shortcomings and a few isolated incidents of unrest" on
Election Day. The EU also confirmed a "lack of essential material"
which had lead to "delays in the opening of polling stations" in the
same statement.
The Malawi Electoral Support Network (MESN), a body that
conducts random sampling during elections to determine the accuracy of MEC
results, observed that 32% of polling stations had opened on time, at 6am, on
Election Day.
MESN
also indicated that at 96% of polling stations "no one attempted to
disrupt the voting process."
On
Wednesday, MEC chairperson, Justice Mbendera, asked voters, who used one of the
13 identified stations affected by disruptions, to recast their votes.
Voting
stations were open on Thursday in Lilongwe, Malawi's capital, and Blantyre, its
largest city - the areas afflicted by unrest and disruptions.
Peace for most
Malawians
A
South African, Erika Joubert, who had lived and worked in Malawi for three
years, says the majority of Malawians live in rural areas in impoverished traditional
homes, with no electricity, bore hole water and dilapidated under-resourced
schools, unlike the urban Lilongwe and Blantyre.
"Most
people I know could vote rather peacefully as the unrest were in Lilongwe and
Blantyre," says Deppa Pullanikkatil, a programme manager for the
non-profit organisation, Lead. Pullanikkatil
is based in Zomba in the Southern part of Malawi.
The
EU's preliminary election observation deliberated the effects of disruptions of
election results, but specified "voting was generally conducted in an orderly,
calm and peaceful manner".
"Voters
patiently waited to cast their vote despite long queues. EU observers assessed
the overall conduct of voting as being good or very good in 92 per cent of 404
polling stations."
Miscounting then
recounting votes
On
Saturday Bendera issued a statement on a meeting between MEC and political
party leaders regarding the elections.
"During
the meeting, the Commission reported that in the course of vote tallying, there
are cases being discovered where the total number of votes cast is more than the
total registered voters for the centre. It has been agreed with the political
parties that this can be resolved by opening the ballot boxes and doing a
physical audit," he said.
The
MEC affirmed that vote counting would proceed. He also said the MEC would
convene with political parties today, to establish the logistics of a recount
of votes early next week.
Unofficial results
wreak turmoil
The
death of Deputy Minister of Local Government and People's Party member, Godfrey
Kamanya, on Thursday morning, might be linked to unfavourable unofficial
election results. He had allegedly committed suicide.
The
latest unofficial Malawi Electoral Support Network (MESN) results issued on
Saturday indicate that Peter Mutharika'a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is in
the lead, followed by of Lazarus Chakwera's Malawi Congress Party (MCP), which
puts former president and her party, the People's party in third place. The fourth competitive contender is Atupele
Muluzi with the United Democratic Front (UDF).
Legacies and territories
"Remember
that Malawi has regional politics. Every leader is
popular in their region. Peter, Joyce and Atupele - representing big parties -
all come from the South and get many votes from the South," says Malawian,
Mathews Tsirizeni, currently doing his PhD
in environmental development in Botswana.
The
MESN reports estimated that 55% of Southern Malawi voting stations were open by
9:30am, 69% in Northern Malawi, 73% in Central Malawi and 79% in Eastern
Malawi.
The leading party leaders are rigged with
connotations. Atupele Muluzi is the son of former president Bakili Muluzi. Mutharika
is the brother of former president Bingu Mutharika who passed away in 2012, who
passed the presidential position to his deputy, Joyce Banda.
"MCP is famous in the central region and also got many votes. The North supports Peter. The DPP is winning, because people have good experience
of security assurance from the [former] Bingu [Mutharika] administration,"
says Tsirizeni.
Banda was implicated in a financial scandal, dubbed
Cashgate, when Malawi's digital financial
system was bypassed to allocate money to government officials and aides. Thereafter
she was criticised for overspending on private flights.
"Joyce [Banda] is losing, because of Cashgage, corruption and presidential
jet scandals, which make Malawians suffer. She did not act on these issues to
win Malawians back. She also started being nepotistic, favouring people of her
party," believes Tsirizeni.
According to the MEC this election was a tripartite
election, because the last local elections were held 14 years ago. Former
president, Bingu Mutharika, had cancelled the previous local government
elections.
