Malawi’s Banda alleges irregularities in election

DPA/BlantyreIncumbent President Joyce Banda has alleged serious irregularities in Malawi’s general elections and called on the electoral commission to carry out an immediate manual audit of the results.Radio reports said that Banda was trailing behind two other candidates as the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) counted the votes from Tuesday’s poll.Banda told reporters in Lilongwe that she had evidence of vote-rigging and other irregularities such as non-inspection of voter registers.She said there were instances of candidates leading by a vote tally that exceeded the number of registered voters in the area.“In light of these concerns and others emerging from other stakeholders, I call upon MEC to carry out an immediate manual audit of the whole process,” Banda said.Electoral commission chairman Maxon Mbendera said: “Some of the claims we are receiving are considerable, but not significant enough to warrant a stoppage of the counting of votes.“We are already counting the votes manually at polling stations.”Election officials said that the electronic system had crashed, forcing them to send votes by fax or e-mail.With the vote count delayed, definitive results are not expected until next week.Voting ended officially on Tuesday, but some people were still casting their ballots yesterday at polling stations which had opened late.Banda rose from vice-president to president after the sudden death of her predecessor Bingu wa Mutharika in 2012.She faces Peter Mutharika, brother of the late president; Lazarus Chakwera, an evangelical pastor; and Atupele Muluzi, son of former president Bakili Muluzi.Several broadcasters said Mutharika and Chakwera had taken an early lead. Nearly 1,300 candidates also contested the 194 seats in parliament.Outgoing deputy Local Government Minister Godfrey Kamanya meanwhile shot himself dead in his home, Zodiak broadcaster and other media reported.Preliminary election results aired on radio stations indicated Kamanya was faring badly in the election and was likely to lose his parliamentary seat.In a suicide note now held by police, Kamanya reportedly said he took his life because of misunderstandings related to politics.He also outlined how his wealth would be distributed and asked Banda, under whom he served, to help pay school fees for his child.“We had to break the door to his kitchen where he had locked himself up,” Kamanya’s friend Jemoth Chilapondwa – also a member of Banda’s People’s Party – told Zodiak.“We found him lying dead in a pool of blood. Police will do their investigations and are the ones who can disclose more on this,” Chilapondwa said.Kamanya’s death is a blow to Banda, who first won applause from the West for her austerity policies, but whose rule was later tainted by a massive corruption scandal, which led to donors slashing aid that had made up 40% of Malawi’s budget.