Malawi Congress Party (MCP) primary elections continue to be rocked with claims of political manipulation, the latest being the exercise in Chingale Constituency in Zomba District.
There, one aspiring parliamentary candidate, Brian Mungomo Sr, has expressed outrage with how the party’s ranks handled the election on Monday.
Things got haywire such that his wife, Lorna Mungomo, was reportedly beaten up for taking a video that captured developments that would ultimately implicate those handling the elections for malpractices.
Mungomo said ballot boxes were moved to a new centre for counting before people completed casting their votes.
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“I wonder why ballot boxes were moved to a new station, almost 15 kilometres away from where the election was taking place.
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“And when my wife asked and captured a video of what was going on, she was beaten up,” he said.
Mungomo was contesting against Duncan Kamwendo.
Voting took place at Masaula Trading Centre but counting was done at Chipini Parish, within the constituency.
Team leader for the elections, David Lally, confirmed to have moved counting to another location.
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“We moved the station for counting because one of the aspirants [Mungomo] complained that he did not know some of the areas that took part in the vote.
“This caused commotion, and we wanted a safer place,” he said.
Lally said all parties were aware of the relocation of the tally centre and their respective monitors witnessed the final counting of the votes.
“After we moved to Chipini, counting was being done in the presence of all monitors from both sides.
“But on a sad note, one aspirant [Mungomo] did not sign a result sheet which indicated that he lost with his 250 votes to Kamwendo’s 321 votes,” he said.
In an interview, Mungomo said he would not allow others to destroy MCP with their personal interests.
“We will defend the integrity of the party. These people must know that they are jeopardising not only my personality but also that of the President,” he said.
He described what happened at Chingale as a shame.
MCP is conducting primary elections for parliamentary candidates and complaints of manipulation has risen in a number of areas including in Linthipe Constituency in Dedza, Chitipa North Constituency and Bunda Constituency in Lilongwe.
Tensions have also emerged in Mzimba Central Constituency where primary elections that were set for today have seen some people writing the party’s Director of Elections, Elias Chakwera, to shift the election to May.
Among contestants in the Mzimba Central Constituency is Vitumbiko Mumba, who is also Minister of Trade and Industry.
Political analyst Victor Chipofya said it is unfortunate that political parties are not learning from the past where such ugly occurrences have frustrated voters and compromised chances of the ‘chosen’ candidates.
“Political parties must make sure they prioritise the needs of their people for democracy to prevail.
“You have seen in some cases that people cast more votes for a person who lost primaries,” Chipofya said.
