Synod wants vote results posting at each polling station

Nkhoma Synod of the CCAP church is calling on the body mandated to conduct elections in Malawi, the Electoral Commission to ensure that May 19 presidential and parliamentary should have voting results counted and posted at each polling station after polling.

The church said in a pastoral message that all stakeholders and interested parties should have access to the results which will be counted and confirmed by all legible monitors.

"Let us pray that voting, counting and announcing of election results
should be done in all fairness. It will be ideal if results be posted for public consumption at every polling station before they are forwarded to the Returning Officers at the District Commissioner's office," said the church in statement.

The CCAP church, the second largest Christian denomination in the country called on the Electoral Commission to announce the final results immediately after finishing tallying the figures.

"For a wide verification of results, all media houses should be allowed to take part in broadcasting the results," the church appealed.

EC has since confirmed that the national voter nerve centre will be at Chichiri International Conference Centre also known as Comesa Hall.

As countdown to the polls continue, fears of vote rigging have been registered mainly by opposition parties MCP and UDF who have teamed up to field join presidential candidate John Tembo to face incumbent Bingu wa Mutharika.

Political commentators have described the MCP-UDF alliance as formidable to win the May presidential race.

"The Electoral Commission carries a heavy burden to ensure that the entire electoral process is handled smoothly.  The process includes registration of voters, political campaign, activities on the polling day, counting and announcing of election results. The careful handling of these will lead to free and fair elections," reads the message issued by Synod General secretary Rev Dr Davidson Chifungo, Synod Moderator Rev C.E.J Msangaambe and Senior Clerk Rev S.S Sande Mwale.

The church pointed out that itt is unfortunate that according to revelations made by the verification exercise, some registered names are missing on the voters' roll national wide.

Nevertheless, Nkhoma Synod expressed the hope that all registered and legible members will vote regardless of the shortcomings.

"Let us pray that the Electoral commission in Malawi should completely be independent. This will help them handle free and fair elections."

The church also condement campaign hate-messages on public media houses and asked national broadcaster MBC and Television Malawi to give equal access to all political parties and presidential candidates unlike the present status where only thr ruling party is dominating.

The Nkhoma Synod said  does not condone the use of provocative language and unbalanced coverage of political campaigns in any media house in Malawi.

It condemened radio and television propaganda and hate-capaign  programs such Makiyolobasi, Mizwanya, Boiling Pot, Kalibu saying they do not just dehumanise others but also promote immoral upbringing of young Malawians.

" Our children will grow thinking that it is normal to disrespect one another in politics," faith leaders said.

The pastoral statement is  titled "Choosing the right leader".
http://www.nyasatimes.com/national/3323.html