At least 900 unlabeled ballot boxes were found at Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) warehouse in Area 4, Lilongwe. The ballot boxes were discovered in the process of extracting intended ballot boxes for vote recount for Lilongwe City South East Constituency.
It has been established that MEC Chairperson Maxon Mbendera yesterday with fellow Commissioners had to get the selected ballot boxes to recount the votes following the High Court ruling last week that the Commission should conduct a vote recount for the constituency.
Reports indicate that during the opening of the boxes, one box was found with two envelopes which were not labelled but had marked ballot papers which were not counted. It is said that Mbendera ordered that they be replaced in new envelopes and sealed back in the box and marked them ‘quarantined’.
This has raised questions as to whether this year’s elections were credible. MEC was ordered to recount the votes for three centres namely Chilinde School, City Assembly Site office and Mlodza F.P. School.
The order followed a challenge of the outcome of the Parliamentary Elections in court by opposition Malawi Congress Party’s (MCP) candidate Ulemu Msungama. Msungama challenged Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Bentley Namasasu who was officially declared winner amongst the two during the controversial Tripartite Elections.
Meanwhile, MEC has halted the recount following a Stay Order Namasasu obtained from the High Court restraining them to continue the recounting process. Currently Msungama’s lawyer Emmanuel Tchapo is at the High Court in Lilongwe trying to vacate Stay Order