EU observers to issue fresh election report on Malawi

The European Union (EU) Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM) to Malawi delegation will jet back in the country on Wednesday January 8 2020 to issue a fresh report on the disputed May 21 2019 Tripartite Elections as the country awaits the Constitutional Court elections case ruling.

Head of Political Affairs at EU, Aurelie Valtat, has confirmed the development.

In a 12-page preliminary statement, dated May 23 2019, the mission said the elections was challenged by poor conditions and poor adherence to procedures.

The EU observers also punched holes in the electoral legal framework, especially on the absence of deadlines for filing and adjudicating election disputes.

EU-EOM also observed that the vote count was transparent with party monitors present in all polling stations observed.

However, the EU-EOM mission said closing was assessed as bad to very bad in 12 out of 32 polling stations observed, mostly due to inconsistency in following procedures and problems with reconciliation and completing the result sheets.

Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) declared Peter Mutharika of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) winner with 1 940 709 votes or 38.57 percent of the votes cast.

He was trailed by Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi Congress Party (MCP) with 1 781 740 votes (35.41 percent) while immediate-past vice-president Saulos Chilima of UTM came third with 1 018 369 votes or 20.24 percent.

MEC chairperson Justice Jane Ansah declared the presidential elections to be free and fair and that the results were the true reflection of the will of the people of Malawi.

But Chilima and Chakwera are seeking nullification of the results in the Constitution Court.

The Constitutional Court (ConCourt) - a panel of five judges: Justice Healey Potani, Ivy Kamanga, Dingiswayo Madise, Redson Kapindu and Mike Tembo--are faced with making the most momentous decision any Malawian court has ever made.

The ruling is expected either this month or early February.

If the ConCourt nullify the petition as prayed for by the presidential candidates who finished third and second in the disputed official tally--they will only become the second court ever on the African continent--after Kenya's, to cancel a presidential election.

But this is the first time an election referral has reached this stage in Malawi. And it has done so to the backdrop of a huge political crisis and gripped the attention of the whole country with the 17 million Malawians unprecedentedly able to follow all the court hearings via mass media.

This article originally appeared on Nyssa Times