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Synod faults MEC on preparations

The CCAP Synod of Livingstonia has said Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) should have done better on preparations for the country’s first-ever tripartite elections.

The synod’s moderator Timothy Nyasulu said this yesterday in an interview after monitoring the voting exercise in Chitipa, Karonga, Rumphi and Mzimba.

Some MEC official at PVHO offices on Monday
Some MEC official at PVHO offices on Mondayjohn

He singled out such challenges as shortage of ballot papers, misplacement of ballots, missing out of names in voters’ rolls and inadequate voter civic education.

“Proper preparations should have been done earlier because MEC knew in advance that ballot papers were to be printed outside the country,” said Nyasulu.

He said lack of proper preparation also resulted in election officials educating voters at polling centres on voting day.

However, the moderator described the elections in the North as “generally peaceful” despite a few reported cases of violence.

“For example, in Karonga Central Constituency, the situation has been better than we expected. People have voted peacefully. That’s a big achievement in the district,” said Nyasulu.

He called on losers and their supporters to desist from violence.

The voting exercise in the North faced various challenges, which forced scores of voters failing to exercise their right to vote.

In Karonga Central, a minor case of violence was reported on election day involving supporters of People’s Party parliamentary candidate Cornelius Mwalwanda who fought independent candidate Frank Mwenefumbo’s followers.

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