Malawi Electoral Commission investigates over 100% voter turnout

Malawi’s Joyce Banda

The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has acknowledged that there was an alarming over 100% turnout and voting in 58 polling stations that it is currently investigating.

This comes amid a controversial presidential poll.

Malawi’s High Court granted an order to an opposition party that paves the way for a recount in the country’s disputed presidential elections, according to Malawi Congress Party Secretary-General Gustav Kaliwo.

The court in the capital, Lilongwe, quashed an earlier ruling obtained by Peter Mutharika’s Democratic Progressive Party to halt the recount by the Malawi Electoral Commission after ballots at some polling stations exceeded registered voters, Kaliwo said. The nation’s military said it wouldn’t interfere in the process.

“Judge Ken Manda has ordered that MEC as an independent body should be allowed to do its job,” Kaliwo said. “That means all the injunctions obtained against MEC are vacated and if other quarters are not happy with judgment, they can apply to the court for a judicial review.”

The country’s High Court on May 24 rejected Malawian President Joyce Banda’s move to annul the southern African nation’s elections and hold fresh polls after saying last week’s process had been marred by “rampant irregularities.” Mutharika was leading Banda when results from 30 percent of the nation’s polling stations were announced two days ago. The opposition United Democratic Front also supports a recount, said spokesman Ken Ndanga.

“There has to be a recount and if DPP says they won fairly, let them allow MEC to do a recount,” Ndanga said. “Why is MEC being gagged?”

MEC officials were in a meeting and didn’t respond to calls seeking comment.

The Malawi Defence Force today ruled out taking action that would interfere in the political process.

“We will neither take over the rule of Malawi nor influence any political decisions on the leadership of the Republic of Malawi,” spokesman Francis Kakhuta-Banda said.

Voting, which lasted for 12 hours after starting at 6 a.m. on May 20, extended into a third day at some polling stations after they ran out of ballot papers and ink. Nineteen voting centers submitted ballots that exceeded the total number registered to vote at those facilities, the MEC said on May 23. The People’s Party, led by Banda, uncovered a syndicate in which returning officers at some stations were adding figures to tally sheets, spokesman Ken Msonda said.

Banda, 64, asked the MEC to undertake a manual audit of the whole process on May 22. She battled to retain the presidency after alienating allies with a crackdown on corruption. Mutharika’s DPP took 42 percent of the votes, with ballots from 30 percent of the nation’s 4,445 stations counted, the MEC said on May 24.

“People have spoken through a fair and credible election,” Mutharika said on May 24. “There is no way the DPP can rig elections. I have heard nowhere in the world where an opposition rigs an election.”

Twelve candidates contested the presidential elections and about 7.5 million people registered to cast ballots. Opinion polls were inconclusive as to who was likely to win.

About half of Malawi’s 15 million people live on less than $1 a day, according to the International Monetary Fund. The country is Africa’s top exporter of burley tobacco, a low-grade variety of the crop. Prices have tumbled since the crisis began.