BLANTYRE, Malawi, May 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Malawi’s electoral body temporarily suspended the release of the presidential results, in order to deal with complaints raised by various political parties.
Justice Jane Ansah, the Chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC), said, the announcement of results has been suspended in order to attend to the complaints received so far on the electoral process.
She said, during an update briefing at the National Tallying Centre that, about 147 complaints ranging from tampering of results, electoral officials disappearing, or locking up the results have been received.
The suspension of the announcement of results is in line with the country’s electoral law, she added.
“Our legal team is expediently reviewing all the complaints received and giving feedback to the complainants,” she said.
She, however, noted that the electoral body would be able to announce the final results within the stipulated eight-day period and urged Malawians to be calm and to disregard results being posted on various social media sites.
Partial results, released on Thursday, after the counting and verification of results from 75.81 percent of polling stations, showed that incumbent President, Peter Mutharika, was leading his rivals after obtaining 40.49 percent of the votes.
Mutharika was followed by main opposition leader, Lazarous Chakwera, with 35.44 percent and Vice-President, Saulos Chilima, with 18.35 percent, in the tightly contested polls.– NNN-AGENCIES
