Tempers flared at Kaliyeka Primary School in Lilongwe City South Constituency on Monday when the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) courted stakeholders on the procedures the body intends to follow in the rerun of elections in the area on June 6.
The meeting was attended by members of the community and some party leaders who expressed concerns over some procedures that MEC has decided to follow in the electoral process.
Malawi Congress Party (MCP) continued to push for a rerun and not a by-election as reported by the electoral body.
MCP Director of Elections for Central Region Richard Chimwendo Banda said MEC should implement the Supreme Court of Appeal’s ruling to have a rerun in the area.
“The ruling is very clear. It actually says that, for the avoidance of any doubt or whatsoever, there has never been a vacancy because the other person was not duly elected. So how is MEC treating it as if there was a vacancy and this is a by-election? All we want is re-run,” he said.
Others questioned the transparency of the elections as MEC made it clear that it would have a fresh registration of eligible voters in the area.
The Supreme Court of Appeal nullified the 2014 parliamentary elections results in the area after MCP candidate Ulemu Msungama challenged the results. The Democratic Progressive Party’s Bentley Namasusu was declared winner.
MEC Chairperson Jane Ansah said they had received two petitions from MCP and the constituents before the meeting, hence the meeting to address the issues with the stakeholders.
“The constituents were contending that they heard of the court ruling on radio and in newspapers and to them as far as they are concerned they still have an MP [Namasusu]. So we came to explain to them about the court ruling,” she said.
She further said after the Supreme Court ruling, the electoral body made the decision to conduct by-elections with guidance of laws under Section 100 (3 and 4) of the Parliamentary and Presidential Elections Act.
“We have come up with the process that the elections will take the form of by-elections and members are free to join and contest including those that have interest to contest and everyone will go according to the process,” she said.
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