Liwawadzi Local Government by-election suffered a heavy setback following voter apathy on Thursday as only 4,608 voters turned out to cast their vote against a total of 20,482 who registered in the voters roll in the ward.

Malawi News Agency (Mana) has established that in some centres with less than 100 voters turned out, a situation which some quarters described as worrisome considering that the nation may undergo another presidential election depending on the outcome of the court ruling.

Speaking at Mbera Teachers Development Centre where the tally centre was mounted, Regional Elections Officer for the South, Kingsley Rudi said Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) was satisfied with the way the by-elections were conducted.

“Local Government Elections are important, as you know with the demise of the former Councillor, the ward had no representative at the council,” he said.

Reacting to the voter apathy, Rudi expressed concern over the situation and could not be drawn to immediately state what as MEC think could be the reason.

Speaking earlier in an interview with Mana, Morrison Makwinja who was one of the voters at Vumo Polling Centre remained skeptical to comment on the low turnout.

“I cannot really tell what the problem is but it could be that people are no longer interested in voting or that people are undermining the election,” he said.

During the election, unofficial results showed that Pharaoh Mbiri, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate won with 2,615 votes.

Candidates from DPP, Freedom Party, Mbakuwaku Movement for Development, Peoples Party and two independent candidates contested during the election.

The by- elections were conducted following the death of Ward Councillor, Thomson Bwanali in October, 2019.

Source: Mana