MALAWI: Justice and Peace, Civil Society Commend Electoral Commission Transparency
Watipaso Mzungu
A local election observation consortium has commended the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) for promoting transparency in vote counting and tallying and displaying of results at appropriate places for the general public to see.
The consortium, which comprises the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP), National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE) Public Trust, the Public Affairs Committee has stressed that transparency in vote counting and tallying and displaying of results go a long way in mitigating fears of rigging that are making rounds on social media.
The consortium carried out a long-term observation of the fresh presidential election from the time of the Constitutional Court order on February 3, 2020.
The Episcopal Conference of Malawi’s CCJP National Director Boniface Chibwana, who chairs the consortium, says in a statement released this evening that the Consortium had noted that MEC is being methodical in its processes to determine and announce official results.
“Generally, the electoral process so far has been good without major hiccups or bottlenecks. CCJP, NICE, PAC consortium would like to commend all stakeholders and the Electoral Commission in particular, given the time and resource constraint in managing this election,” says Chibwana in the statement.
The Consortium has also commended security agencies, which include the Malawi Defence Force, Malawi Police Service and Malawi Prison Service, for their professionalism, diligence and rapid response in supporting the electoral process with logistical services as well as providing security and ensuring safety and security of polling staff, polling materials and the electorate.
But CCJP, PAC and NICE have appealed to the general public to exercise patience, stressing that the results they are accessing at this stage are not official and should be treated with caution.
They urge the public to take due cognizance of the electoral law especially Section 96(1) of the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections Act (PPEA) which stipulates that the Electoral Commission shall determine and publish the national result of an election based on the records delivered to it from all districts and polling stations.
“The consortium will issue a detailed observation report in due course. However, this statement provides highlights of key preliminary observations and recommendations,” says Chibwana.
The consortium carried out its mandate on election observation by drawing on the goodwill, financial, technical and logistical support and collaboration of many individuals and organizations in various capacities.
Chibwana says the Malawi Government, European Union (EU), Commonwealth, MISEREOR, Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) and USAID are some of the organizations that provided the consortium with financial support that enabled the undertaking of the various observation activities.
He thanked MEC for accrediting members of the consortium to carry out electoral observation and for continued mutual trust, honest engagement and collaboration.
“Furthermore, we thank the civil society, traditional leaders, faith based organizations, the media and other stakeholders that played various complimentary roles in the electoral process for mutual collaboration, synergistic relations and moral support. The supervisory and stationed observers, who provided data on which basis the work of the consortium was carried out,” Chibwana says.
