MEC set for elections

Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) says it is confident that tomorrow’s elections in seven constituencies and two wards will be free, fair and credible.

MEC director of media and public relations Sangwani Mwafulirwa in an interview said as of on Sunday, they had concluded distribution of ballot papers and polling materials from constituency nerve centres to all polling stations.

He said: “We have also deployed presiding officers and security staff to all polling stations. As we go to polling, we assure all voters that there is adequate presence of police officers in all by-elections areas. They should not be afraid to come and vote.”

Mwafulirwa said MEC will place two police officers at each polling centre.

MEC is tomorrow expected to hold elections in Karonga North West, Ntchisi North West, Lilongwe Msinja South, Zomba Changalume, Nsanje North and Chikwawa East constituencies and Liviridzi ward in Balaka West and Chitakale Ward in Mulanje South.

Mwafulirwa said since the official campaign period ended on Sunday, MEC has not received any complaint of candidates or political parties engaging in campaign activities.

However, he acknowledged that MEC is aware of violence that occurred at Karonga Boma on Saturday night in which six Malawi Congress Party (MCP) vehicles were smashed by some unknown people.

“Although we have not received any formal complaint on this, we condemn this act. We applaud the police for moving in fast to investigate the perpetrators and bring them to justice,” he said.

According to Mwafulirwa, presiding officers from all polling stations are this morning expected to open all the materials to inspect if they are correct and in their right quantities.

He called on political parties and candidates to avail themselves during the exercise, saying if they are absent, the exercise will still proceed.