Congoma says elections far from credible

Council for Non-Governmental Organisations in Malawi (Congoma) said yesterday while the May 20 Tripartite Elections were “far from credible”, it is important for Malawians to maintain peace as well as law and order as the country waits for Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) to announce the official results or operate as the courts may determine.

Briefing journalists at Protea Ryalls Hotel in Blantyre yesterday, Congoma governing council chairperson Voice Mhone said the elections were far from credible as they were marred by a lot of discrepancies right from the voters’ roll.

Said Mhone: “This election process has had a huge cost to Malawi in terms of image, loss of business, maturity of our democracy and we are very worried that if the National Assembly is further delayed, approval of the national budget will also be delayed.”

He said MEC, regardless of the outcome of the election, has let Malawians down and something big and visible enough should be done on elections,  including resuscitation of the outcomes of the constitutional review process.

Mhone said Congoma calls on all winners to celebrate responsibly without provoking anybody while the losers should support the winning candidates so that we can build Malawi together as “there is always next time, God allowing”.

He said his organisation never thought the country might hit a failed election as MEC was always assuring the national that all is in place.