Unofficial results for parliamentary and local government by-elections held in various parts of the country indicate that major political parties have shared fortunes in Tuesday’s polls.
The Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) conducted the by-elections in three constituencies and two wards.
Malawi Congress Party candidate Precious Kabambe has won the Lilongwe-Bwaila constituency with 4,707 votes.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) aspirant Mike Chimzukira trailed with 2,725 votes.
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In Balaka, DPP candidate James Makhumula has won the Balaka-Mulunguzi constituency with 7,311 votes, while independent candidate Ireen Mambala came second with 6,462 votes, according to the unofficial results.
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Ishmael Japan, who contested as an independent candidate, is the Member of Parliament for Machinga-Mikoko constituency after accumulating 4,935 votes, while his close contender Ibrahim Ojess of the United Democratic Progressive Party trailed with 4,853 votes.
In the local government elections, Robert Kondowe of the People’s Party has been elected councillor for Uliwa Ward in Karonga with 2,800 votes, while Mikoko Ward in Machinga has gone to Lali Atwabi of the DPP, who got 2,351 votes.
Official results are expected to be announced by Mec, whose chairperson Annabel Mtalimanja said the elections went on smoothly.
However, monitors and other officials at Kankao Tally Centre in Balaka had to wait until past 8am to hear the unofficial results as Mec officials struggled to aggregate the results.
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The officials started the process soon after 3am, but it took them about five hours to finish as the manual and electronic figures did not match.
Meanwhile, Balaka District Commissioner Bibu Yusuf Mdala decried voter apathy.
“We have noticed that the turnout was below 50 percent. This is a concern but as a council we will intensify awareness on the need for people to take part in voting,” he said.
