Malawi: EU deploys observers for elections

  1. Posted on Saturday 18 April 2009 - 12:20
    Sam Banda Junior
    Image of Sam Banda Junior
    Sam Banda Jnr, AfricaNews reporter in Blantyre, Malawi
    As Malawi readies itself for elections next month, European Union have earmarked about 80 observers for the country. The country goes to polls on May 19 to elect its president and members of parliament. Spokesperson for the EU, Mathias Eick, said that the observers will jet into the country on May 19.
    malawi map
    "On election day, some 80 EU observers will be in the country. This will make the EU the largest international observation mission in the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections," said Eick.

    Malawi will be going to the polls after South Africa which votes on April 22.

    A News24.com report said six team members have already arrived in Malawi and long-term observers will be deployed to all 28 districts on Saturday.

    However short-term observers will join the team before the election on May 19.

    President Bingu Wa Mutharika who took over office in 2004 from former president Bakili Muluzi is seeking re-election as the presidential candidate for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). He faces a big challenge to retain the hot seat from other opposition leaders among them Malawi Congress Party(MCP)’s president John Tembo who recently joined forces with United Democratic Front(UDF) of former president Muluzi.

    Other candidates vying for the presidency are Loveness Gondwe who will be the first female candidate in the history of Malawi to contest, Dindi Gowa Nyasulu, Stanley Masauli, James Nyondo and Kamuzu Chibambo.

    Muluzi who has been at loggerheads with president Mutharika after he dumped UDF, the party which elected him into power also expressed interest to contest.

    However Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) ruled recently that he was not eligible to stand having already served his two five year terms. The ex-president has since challenged the ruling in court.

    Meanwhile the country’s Electoral Commission (EC) is reported to have recruited 550 people to verify entries on computerised voters’ roll against manual roll.

    The move is aimed at ironing out all the problems which have been happening during the voters roll verification such as omission of names and photographs.

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