Malawi Elections 09 : Poll results liable to disputes

There are uncertainties over whether political parties would readily accept results of the May 19 elections following a spate of accusations over the problematic performance of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC).
Almost all the players in the forthcoming elections including the major political parties—DPP, UDF and MCP—have risen up in arms accusing MEC of various disparities in the election process and commentators have predicted that if the problems are not handled properly chances are that all losers in the election would not accept the results.
But MEC has dispelled such fears maintaining that the results will be credible as the commission was doing all it could to correct every emerging problem.
MEC spokesperson Fegus Lipenga said the commission has already agreed with the political parties that the verification exercise which was dogged by various problems should be opened for a second round as a remedial measure.
"The problem of the voters roll is purely of technical nature and is no way a threat to the conduct of free and fair elections," added MEC chairperson Anastazia Msosa through a press statement released after a meeting with the political parties held on Thursday.
Msosa also said during the second round of the verification exercise the commission will increase number of teachers who are verifying the computerised voters roll to expedite the process while political parties will also be free to appoint monitors for the exercise.
Mzuzu University political commentator Noel Mbowela said with all the problems dogging the electoral process chances were that losers would not readily accept the results of the elections.
"There is a big outcry from all angles which in the end will not make the elections credible," said Mbowela.
He said the problems which MEC was facing now could have been prevented if the electoral body were visionary and foresaw that these elections would be different from all the previous polls.
He also said another issue that will raise problems would be the independence of the electoral body.
Centre for Human Rights Rehabilitation (CHRR) Undule Mwakasungula said he was hopeful that MEC as a professional body will be able to manage the problems well but said the most important thing was that the political parties should give their support to the electoral body.
"Political parties should look and identify the shortfalls and I don't think MEC cannot just sit without any action," he said.
Mwakasungula said it would be wrong to push all the blame to MEC while the body has been given questionable support in terms of resources to have adequate staff.
DPP secretary general Henry Chimunthu Banda, who this week expressed reservations on how MEC has handled the registration and verification of the voters roll, hinted that if the problems are not corrected his party would not have trust in the May 19 elections.
Chimunthu Banda said the DPP was suspicious of the electoral body after noting that most of the anomalies in the registration process were mainly in the party's strongholds.
The DPP secretary general could not precisely say whether DPP would accept the results if the party loses.
UDF Alliance spokesperson Humphrey Mvula also said the current situation will make it difficult for the losers to accept the results.
"The results will not be good and will be hardly acceptable by most of the stakeholders. The problem is that MEC has become too large and turned into the electoral process itself," he said.
Among several issues Mvula cited the current problem with the voters roll which he described as disastrous.
He also said the UDF does not subscribe to the idea that MEC should use manual voters roll during the voting, saying that move can easily open loopholes for rigging.
He called on MEC to rework on the voters roll, saying there was still time to do that for the sake of ensuring that there will be free and fair elections.
MCP spokesperson on Parliamentary affairs Ishmael Chafukira could also not say whether the party would accept the results, saying at the moment there is no question of the MCP losing the elections.
However, he added: "Whatever outcome of the elections will raise eyebrows, especially if the DPP wins there would be uproar from all the players."
Chafukira said DPP's complaints on MEC are hypocritical after the party has "all along thrown its weight behind MEC".
"We know that there is a deal trying to hoodwink Malawians and fool us," he said, describing the whole electoral process as 'very' messy.
"Even the registration was like a laboratory experiment while the whole process lacked consultation and communication with stakeholders. MEC has always been making unilateral decisions," said Chafukira.

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