Intrigue and Drama as Malawians Await Election Results · Global Voices
In some polling centres in Malawi, lines were so long people couldn't see ahead. Photo by <PERSON>. Used with permission.
In a bizarre twist for a country in Sub-Saharan Africa, a governing party is accusing an opposition party of having rigged the election.
Unofficial results in Malawi's elections for president, members of parliament and ward councillors show the incumbent President Dr. <PERSON>, Malawi's and southern Africa's first female president, losing by wide margins and two opposition candidates neck and neck in the running.
Malawians flocked to polling centres across the country on Tuesday, 20 May, 2014 for the vote. In much of the country voting went on smoothly, but in a number of centres things did not go as planned. In some centres people lined up from 4 a.m. and waited into the afternoon without voting. Anger spilled over into rage, with one centre being set on fire and cast ballots being destroyed in others.
People had hoped that by Thursday, 22 May they would know who had won the elections, but things have taken a dramatic turn.
A polling centre in Malawi burns. Photo by <PERSON>. Used with permission.
As results started trickling in on Tuesday night, <PERSON> took an early lead and Malawian social media went into overdrive. There was an overwhelming sense that he would win the election, even with only 23 percent of the votes counted. There were calls for <PERSON> to concede defeat and for the Malawi Electoral Commission to declare <PERSON> the winner. 830
Pundits started propounding opinions as to why <PERSON> had won and the other three had respectively lost.
<PERSON> is the younger brother of late President <PERSON> who died suddenly on 5 April, 2012, in his third year of his second five-year term. <PERSON>, his vice president, had fallen out with <PERSON> Democratic Progressive Party and had formed her own party, the People's Party. After initial attempts by <PERSON> inner circle to subvert the constitution and make his brother <PERSON> the president, <PERSON> was sworn in and became Malawi's forth president, finishing the remaining two years from <PERSON> term.
<PERSON>'s two years has been characterised by scandals, culminating in the uncovering of massive fraud dubbed “cashgate” that reached all the way to her office. A much-awaited opinion poll by Afrobarometer showed <PERSON> leading, followed by Malawi Congress Party candidate Dr. <PERSON>, and <PERSON> coming a distant third.
On Thursday morning, <PERSON> called the press to her official residence Kamuzu Palace where she issued a statement but did not take questions from the media. Blogger <PERSON> posted the statement on his blog. In the president's own words:
It has come to my attention that there some serious irregularities in the counting and announcement of results in some parts of the country and the People’s Party has presented specific details of these irregularities to the Malawi Electoral Commission
She alluded to fears that the electoral commission's communication system had been tampered with. She listed five irregularities, one of which was:
Using information technology to block communication devices of some monitors, and thereby limiting the monitors’ ability to effectively carry out their duties.
Tweeting the briefing was journalist <PERSON>, who reported the president's rigging allegation:
Pres <PERSON> says her party has evidence that election has been rigged and this has been submitted to Mec #Malawivote2014
— <PERSON> (@suzgokhunga) May 22, 2014
The president repeated the allegation in a BBC Focus on Africa interview on Thursday night, putting the blame unequivocally at the electoral commission. The People's Party, of which Dr. <PERSON> is the leader, sought a court injunction to stop Malawi Broadcasting Corporation TV and Zodiak Broadcasting Station from announcing incoming election results from polling centres. The High Court rejected the application, according to a Nyasa Times report.
In another press conference later in the day, the Malawi Electoral Commission rejected claims that the computer system could have been hacked into. The Nation newspaper tweeted the press conference and quoted the MEC Chair Justice <PERSON> as saying:
<PERSON>: “The issue of hacking, we are hearing it from the PP. Its not true, this allegation is not true”. 830