By Robert Kumwenda

The Malawi Electoral Support Network (MESN) has commended the country’s electoral body, Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) for conducting the May tripartite elections in a professional manner.

Steven Duwa, Chairperson for MESN said the announcement of the results was transparent  by providing systematic information on the conduct of the process and inclusive by giving voters confidence to participate as well as more accountable by independently verifying the accuracy of the official results for the presidential election as announced by MEC.

He said his organization was independently investigating saying prior to the elections, 1,400 volunteers were deployed across the country to observe the elections on the Election Day.

“We recognize the role MEC has played in solving the difficulties that were there during 2014 elections and we have assessed the whole process of the elections across the country and we are saying the process was a credible one,” he said.

He said there was improvement in logistics from 2014, as a result polling stations were opened in time in contrast to 2014 and voting was largely conducted in accordance with MEC procedures as in 2014.

Duwa also disputed the claims that the elections were rigged based on its Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) initiative.

He said the turnout was within with what the organization found in its PVT results saying that it is time for the new administration to reflect on the electoral reforms and to unite the country.

“We must all admit that challenges were there and we need to address them to have peace, fair and credible elections in 2024.

The MESN estimates show that the voter turnout was between 74.9 percent and 76.1 percent and results for every candidate matches the PVT estimate and fall within the estimate range.