MCP for electoral law reforms
Leader of opposition in Parliament Lazarus Chakwera has warned that his Malawi Congress Party (MCP) would table a private members’ bill if government fails to bring to Parliament an amendment to electoral laws in the just-started session.
In his response to the opening address for the 46th session which President Peter Mutharika made on Friday, Chakwera said the country’s electoral laws have a lot of loopholes which should be addressed before the 2019 tripartite elections.
Among others, he cited the questions raised over the legitimacy of a government elected with less than 50 percent approval from the electorate, but also a time limit for Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) to announce results.
In the May 2014 Tripartite Elections, Mutharika won the presidential election with 36 percent of the votes cast while Chakwera came second with 27 percent.
If Malawi had a 50-plus-one electoral system, there would have been a rerun of the presidential election after May 20 2014.
“Is it not about time we amended the electoral laws so that the presidential electoral results are announced only after they have been independently audited and certified?
“Is it not about time we adopted a system that requires MEC officials at constituency polling centres to announce the results of their constituency to the whole nation live from the same centres where they are counted and signed for by all parties in the presence of observers to do away with the errors and manipulations that creep into the tally sheets as they travel long distances to reach the national tally centre?” Chakwera said in reference to the confusion that followed the elections last year.
He added: “Let me be clear. If the President does not bring to the next session of Parliament a bill that introduces these reforms to our electoral system, we will do it ourselves through a private members’ bill.”
Public Affairs Committee (PAC) and other observers have recommended such electoral law amendments, but there are no clear plans to bring them to Parliament. n
