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Blantyre — Malawi police fired teargas to disperse dozens of rioters in the south-eastern city of Mangochi yesterday, as the country nervously awaited the release of results from last week’s disputed presidential vote.Over a hundred people “are burning tyres along the roads of Mangochi township,” police spokesperson for the city Rodrick Maida said.
“They are saying the election was rigged. We are dispersing them using teargas,” he added.
Police said the protesters in Mangochi were members of the People’s Party of President Joyce Banda, who is trailing in third place in early results from the election, police sources said.
Others were from the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), whose candidate Lazarus Chakwera is currently in second position and is also calling for a recount.
Early results show a lead for Peter Mutharika, 74, the brother of former president Bingu wa Mutharika.
Hundreds of kilometres to the west, anti-riot police were stationed at strategic areas of the largest city Blantyre, as the High Court was due to rule on whether results should be postponed.
The electoral commission has admitted having come across evidence of “anomalies”, but its boss Maxon Mbendera said 99 percent of the voting was “trouble-free”.
He vowed to release the results by the end of day yesterday in compliance with the electoral laws, unless the court intervenes to force a 30-day extension for a recount.
But Mutharika’s Democratic Progressive Party has teamed up with the electoral commission lawyers to prevent a 30-day extension.
Malawi was forced to deploy the army on the first day of polling last week after delays in opening the polls led voters to riot and burn down at least two stations.
The violence marred an election that was seen as the first true test of Banda’s scandal-tainted rule.
Meanwhile, Banda said on Thursday she is ready to step down if the High Court ratifies a disputed election last week and her opponent ends up as the winner, even though she still believes the vote was fraudulent.
The High Court was due to decide yesterday whether the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) should announce the result of the 20 May vote, which Banda’s opponent is likely to have won, or if it should recount ballots, a process that could take two months.
The decision could raise the risk of post-election violence in the impoverished southern African country after the most hotly contested vote since the end of the one-party state two decades ago.
“I have told the MEC and related stakeholders that I will accept their decision, and the decision of the courts,” Banda said in the Malawian capital Lilongwe.
“I will rest knowing that I tried to defend the rights of Malawians in a critical moment to ensure they have a leader elected in a fair and credible manner,” she added.
The election was plagued by problems, with voting materials turning up hours late and ballot papers sent to the wrong end of the country. The MEC had to extend voting in some urban areas into a second day and initial counting was held up by a lack of electricity at polling stations.
After consulting two opposition parties and the Attorney General, Banda ordered the cancellation of the election, citing fraud and “rampant irregularities”. She ordered a new election within 90 days but said she would not be a candidate to guarantee credibility.
The High Court overruled her decision after the DPP complained and now the court will decide whether the election result should be announced or order a recount.
The MEC has acknowledged irregularities in the vote and said last week it wants a recount.
“When I announced that the election was fraudulent, no one believed me. But today I feel vindicated that my critics and MEC have seen what I saw and are now fighting in court for a recount or re-run,” Banda said.
“My role now is to see to it that the will of the people is respected in a free, fair, transparent and credible election that is why I have announced that I will not participate in the event that there is a re-run,” Banda said.
Banda enjoyed huge goodwill when she came to power two years ago, after the death of president Mutharika, but her popularity waned after she was forced to impose austerity measures including a sharp devaluation, to stabilise the economy.
Her administration was hit by a $15million corruption scandal, dubbed “Cashgate”, after large amounts of cash were discovered to have been stolen by a racket involving senior public officers, businessmen and banks.
Banda, who said that she would retire from politics and concentrate on her charity work, said that she now has confidence in MEC. “Even the MEC itself has now admitted that there are enough anomalies to warrant an individual ballot recount, and others have supported this request . . . — Reuters
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