Respect the law on elections, says EU
The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) to the May 20 Tripartite Elections has appealed to political parties and their supporters to respect the country’s legal framework when dealing with election-related complaints.
The mission has also appealed to all stakeholders to allow the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) finalise its task on tabulation and announcement of results.
“The EU EOM appeals to political parties to address to the competent authorities any election-related complaints and appeals through the mechanisms provided by the laws of Malawi,” reads part of the statement issued by EU EOM.
The mission also says it is closely following the post-election developments.
Meanwhile, MEC has agreed with electoral stakeholders that all votes in the tripartite elections be recounted to resolve irregularities that have been discovered during tallying and results will not be announced until the vote recount outcome is known and compared with the current results.
I would take that last paragraph with a pinch of salt. At 5 pm, Malawi time, my understanding is that DPP do not agree to a complete recount, but agree only to a recount in selected constituencies/ polling stations which have obvious irregularities. I think – only think – that MCP have had DPP’s earlier injunction vacated, which was to compel MEC to issue results by Wednesday. I expect that DPP are back at court snivelling for another order for their view to be upheld.
The statement by the EU is too vague, and does not define what framework it wants the various parties to adhere to.
Suffice it to say, that if DPP agrees to vote counts only where anomalies were discovered, give them their wish but fulfill the wishes of those parties interested in counting all the votes from the tripartite elections. The only party that can dictate what votes to can or not be counted is the one that can explain how the bloated ballots got into the MEC system. MEC also should explain how that happened.