By Patience Lunda:
Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and UTM have said they have reservations with Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec)’s plans to auction some election materials for past polls on July 21 2019.
Mec wants to auction the materials barely a month after the May 21 Tripartite Elections, whose presidential results the two opposition parties are challenging in court.
Among others, MCP wants election materials for the May 21 polls preserved until the case is concluded as such materials could be used as evidence in court.
MCP president Lazarus Chakwera and his UTM counterpart Saulos Chilima are challenging the May 21 presidential election results, citing irregularities.
MCP publicity secretary, Maurice Munthali, said Mec should shelve the auction.
“This should have been the last thing to do after all the cases and complaints are settled. They want to sell these materials but when it [Mec] fails to provide evidence, we need to know that they tampered with,” he said.
Munthali said the issue would be presented to Parliament for review so that an immediate action is taken.
UTM publicity secretary, Joseph Chidanti-Malunga, said Mec’s recent events were suspicious.
“Mec is doing everything in a hurry and one wonders what Mec is trying to hide. Even if Mec says the materials being sold are not related to the case, we will still have doubts because this is not a time we expect it to sell anything it has,” said Malunga.
However, Mec Media and Public Relations Director, Sangwani Mwafulirwa, said the electoral materials on auction were used in previous elections and not on May 21.
Some of the election materials on auction include printers, photocopying machines, cameras, memory cards, motor vehicle tyres, phone receivers and fax machines.
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