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High turn out for by-elections
By
Gedion Munthali - 26-06-2002 |
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Chiradzulu and Salima by-elections went on peacefully yesterday with many voters turning up and only minor hitches described by polling officials as “normal”.
A bi-weekly market day at Mbulumbuzi in the Chiradzulu West did not steal voters’ enthusiasm as long queues snaked the eleven polling centres in the area, registering record voting numbers as early as 9 o’clock, according to Electoral Commission spokesman Fergus Lipenga.
Candidates contesting in the Chiradzulu West poll were Richard Chanache running on the ruling UDF ticket and independent Edward Sawerengera. In Salima North, MCP’s Canaan Kaphamtengo Yona was facing independent Allan Gedion Nthara.
Presiding officer at Kachingwe Centre Jessie Phiri said her centre with 1,968 registered voters had polled 170 people as at 9:30AM, expecting more people later in the day.
This centre was split into two polling stations because of the high number of registered voters.
“There were already long queues when we opened the centre slightly after 6 o’clock in the morning (the official opening time). But people are now coming in trickles because some of them have gone to the market,” said Phiri.
She said voting was smooth because of a print out of a computerised list which had all the names of the registered voters in an alphabetical order.
Namikate Centre had already polled 234 people by 10:15AM, but presiding officer Penelope Phiri cited two hitches which threatened to take away the smooth running of the poll.
“By rules we only expect two monitors from the participating candidates or parties. But we had four for the independent candidate Edward Sawerengera. We, however, sorted out this problem together with Electoral Commissioner (Flora) Chirwa,” said Phiri.
Another incident was when an old woman who had already been given a ballot paper and expected to tick against her choice in the privacy of a designated classroom, kept moving from one room to another.
“When my polling staff tried to find out what was wrong, she said she was looking for the participating candidates. She said she was expecting to see them physically in the room where she was to make her choice,” said Phiri.
Presiding officer at Chikanga Polling Centre Bettie Kawala said her centre had already polled over 200 people by 10:30AM despite an early mix up with regard to two different voters roll, one with names listed in an alphabetical order and another in a numerical pattern.
“We thought that the two were different lists, so we added them up and discovered that the number of registered voters was more than 1,195, the official figure,” said Kawala.
Salima District Commissioner Bridget Muva said that voting in Salima North beat her expectations as they went on peacefully with high turn out.
“The polls have gone on more than expected. We were at first worried about the turn out, but surprisingly it was quite high, really very different from the one during the Local Government polls,” said Muva.
Results are expected today. |
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