Blantyre, Malawi (PANA) – The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) says it will announce the results of last Tuesday’s closely-fought election on Friday.
“The law requires the Commission to announce its determination of the national election results within eight days of the last day of polling,” said MEC Chairman, Justice Maxon Mbendera on Wednesday.
He said although by law Malawi voted on only one day, logistical problems like delays in delivery of ballot papers in certain centres forced the Commission to extend polling up to Thursday.
“As you will recall our last day of polling was Thursday, 22 May, 2014. Therefore, the Commission has a legal duty … to announce the results not later than Friday, 30 May, 2014,” he said.
He said the Commission had tallied all the figures from across the country and was ready to announce the final results. He, however, said verification through a recount in 58 centres where votes exceeded the actual number of voters on the register was still underway.
“It is not feasible for the Commission to conduct a full recount within the period available to it and if it were possible a court order would be required to extend the period of the announcement of the results,” he said.
Mbendera said the Commission was awaiting the direction of the High Court on the way to proceed.
Justice Healy Potani is set to rule by 4pm Friday (1400 GMT) on whether to grant MEC the extension and the recount.
This is Malawi’s closest fought poll since the re-introduction of multiparty politics in 1994 from 30 years of one party rule under founding president Hastings Kamuzu Banda and the Malawi Congress Party (MCP).
The incumbent 64-year-old President Joyce Banda, Africa’s second female president, who came to power in April 2013, following the death of President Bingu wa Mutharika, is facing stiff challenge from her predecessor’s younger brother, Peter Mutharika, a constitutional law professor.
Banda on Saturday issued a proclamation annulling the entire polling process, accusing Mutharika’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of “massive rigging”.
The courts, however, rebuffed her.
Mutharika took an early lead in unofficial exit polls and he was closely followed by cleric-turned politician Lazarus Chakwera, 59, candidate for the MCP.
Former president Bakili Muluzi’s son, Atupele Muluzi, who, at 35, is the youngest presidential candidate in the history of Malawi, was also a serious contender in these elections but unofficial tallies do not give him even an outside chance of causing an upset.
The young Muluzi ran under the banner of the United Democratic Front (UDF) founded by his father.
Eight other candidates, including one other woman, also contested.
