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Malawi is in paralysis after a disputed May 20 election.
Millions in one of Africa’s more stable democracies went to the polls on Tuesday in an election whose partial results have been rejected by incumbent President, Joyce Banda.
When the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) issued the last update on Friday, President Banda was trailing in third place behind Peter Mutharika at number one and former cleric, Lazarus Chakwera in second position in the presidential race. Mutharika, former foreign minister in his late brother, Bingu wa Mutharika’s government that was elected in 2009, was leading with 42 percent of the vote when a third of the ballots had been counted.
Malawi uses the first-past-the-post system, meaning that the candidate with the largest share of votes, no matter how small a percentage of the total votes cast, is declared the winner.
So if Mutharika maintains his lead, he would be installed as president, to establish some sort of Mutharika political dynasty in that country.
But before that happens, President Banda is complaining that the election was marred by serious flaws such as multiple voting, ballot stuffing and the hacking of the electronic system that transmits results. In some places, voting boxes or lids did not arrive at polling stations, so officials had to use buckets and plastic wrap to contain the ballots.
In one constituency of 38,000 registered voters 184,000 people actually voted, which, if true, is patently anomalous. A few stations opened 10 hours after they were scheduled to. By Thursday, some people were still voting. Also, one polling station was set on fire.
Taking note of the foregoing, President Banda said at the weekend, “I am nullifying the elections using the powers invested in me by the Malawi constitution. I want to give Malawians an opportunity to choose a candidate of their choice in a free and fair manner. When elections are to be held again, I will be stepping aside.”
MEC, Mutharika, and the court rejected her annulment but agreed to a recount in around 42 stations. Final results are now expected in the next two months or so.
The net effect of all this has been to cast Malawi’s electoral system and the democracy it personifies into disrepute.
We saw images of a field of polling booths and ballot boxes placed right on the ground as a maze of queues of prospective voters snaked in all directions at some composite polling stations. Policing those crowds and protecting the boxes and ballot papers from possible theft or spoilage and preventing canvassing at the polling stations should be a nightmare in those circumstances. We saw pictures of groups of men and women, some sitting on chairs others on the ground with small piles of marked A4 ballot papers on the ground.
On their own, these don’t necessarily make an unfair election. However, there must be some kind of standard of organisation, materials and infrastructure that make that process more reassuring.
There is room for improvement in election organisation and management not only in Malawi but in other younger democracies as well.
Nevertheless, one really appreciates the way our Zimbabwe Electoral Commission runs polls here. Most of the permanent criticism that Zec has taken from the West, the MDCs and the local civil society is undeserved. On a positive note, what the otherwise undue criticism has done is to push Zec to excel to a level where we can proudly declare that the elections that the body organises are very credible. The world has much to learn from us.
Back to Malawi, we feel that one of the reasons why it finds itself in this unfortunate suspense is that May 20 was the first time that the Sadc country was staging harmonised elections — presidential, parliamentary and local polls in one day.
For beginners, funding three elections simultaneously, putting in place the relevant materials, equipment and infrastructure, as well as manpower and skills present logistical headaches. We had to deal with these in 2008 ourselves, and did quite well organisationally. Last year, it was flawless.
Malawi should use this experience to better run their next election in 2019.
As MEC works to count the ballots, reconcile the figures and announce the election result with the governance machinery using the official outcome to install a new president, parliament and councils at a time appropriate, Malawians have to remain calm.
derick.khumalo