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The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) says there is not much they can do to win voter’s confidence because a loser will not easily accept loss.
Commission spokesperson Fegus Lipenga said this in an interview on Monday when he was asked to explain on what the commission will do to win voter confidence as a lot of people were put off by the results of the May 20 general elections.
“What we are now doing to win voter’s confidence is rectifying the voters’ roll to ensure that problems that were there during the general elections should not be there again,” said Lipenga.
He said some names on the voter’s roll were missing during the general elections, “so what we are doing now is to ensure that such problems should not be there during the forthcoming by-elections”.
Lipenga also said the public should not only blame the body when something has gone wrong as various stakeholders like the media have got a role to play in ensuring free and fair elections.
“The media is supposed to give equal coverage to the ruling party and opposition. If this does not happen and leads to elections not being conducted in a free and fair manner, should the MEC be blamed?” asked Fegus.
He said during the elections Malawians blamed MBC and TVM for lack of equal coverage of the opposition but Information Minister Ken Lipenga asked the two public broadcasters to open up and cover the opposition.
“If these two public broadcasters open up people will not complain that the election process was not free and fair” said Lipenga
Lipenga added that donors should give funds and equipment earlier to the commission as it cannot work without these materials.
“As of now we are still waiting for funds from the Treasury and donors and the elections will be conducted later this year,” he said.
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