2004 PRESIDENTIAL OFFICIAL RESULTS MALAWI

Has · Newbie

2004 PRESIDENTIAL OFFICIAL RESULTS MALAWI

Akhibula · Member

Sunday, 23 May 2004

National

Bingu is Malawi leader

by Pilirani Semu-Banda, 23 May 2004 - 17:57:09

UDF’s Bingu Mutharika was Sunday declared the country’s new president by the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) with 1,119,738 votes, beating the other four presidential candidates who had contested in the May 20 elections.
EC chair James Kalaile said MCP presidential candidate John Tembo came second with 846,457 votes followed by Mgwirizano Coalition candidate Gwanda Chakuamba with 802,386 votes.
NDA’s Brown Mpinganjira polled 272,172 votes while vice president Justin Malewezi, who stood as an independent, trailed with 78,892 votes.
“Following this result, I, Justice James Barnabas Kalaile SC, Chairman of the Malawi Electoral Commission hereby declare Honourable Dr. Bingu Wa Mutharika winner of the 2004 presidential elections,” said Kalaile.
There was screaming and jubilation from UDF agents, led by the party’s executive member Dumbo Lemani at the tally centre at the Chichiri Conference Centre, when Kalaile declared Mutharika winner.
The UDF agents also took off their shirts to show the yellow T-shirts they were wearing and produced a poster bearing Mutharika’s face.
In his announcement, Kalaile failed to articulate the figure of the people who voted, only saying “about three million voted in the election”. He said the Commission registered 5,742,747 people.
The EC chair said on the parliamentary race, the election took place in 187 constituencies out of the 193 constituencies as polling did not take place in six constituencies. He said reasons for the failure will be furnished later.
The announcement of the results was made to an almost empty hall, not well attended as EC kept on changing the time of announcing the results.
But MCP spokesman Bintony Kutsaira said his party has not accepted the results because the Commission has refused to accept their request to verify summaries of the results after they discovered that results from two constituencies in Tembo’s stronghold, Mchinji have not been included in the results.
“We requested that the announcement of the results be delayed for us to verify these but the Commission has refused us this so we’re not accepting these results and we will take appropriate action,” said Kutsaira.
On Saturday, Chakuamba declared himself winner of the election and accused EC of unfair practices in delaying to announce the results.
Kalaile had said in his speech when he was announcing the results that he was congratulating the winners and asked them to celebrate peacefully.
“To those who have lost, I would like to request you to accept defeat after all in an election, some win others lose,” said Kalaile.

JRC · Member

http://www.poly.ac.mw/polls.php

Has · Newbie

UDF wants losers out

by Mc Donald Chapalapata, 23 May 2004 - 17:54:25

A group of UDF members and parliamentarians calling itself the UDF Fast Track is calling all national executive committee members who have lost their parliamentary seats to resign from their posts immediately.
The group¡¦s spokesman Dumbo Lemani said Sunday the UDF Fast Track will be calling for a mini-convention where they want to review the UDF constitution.
¡§Those who have lost their seats should resign. We cannot have a second deputy national chairman, secretary general and deputy secretary general with no parliamentary seats. We need to have a hub which is well oiled. We cannot be ruled by losers,¡¨ said Lemani.
¡§These people have been rejected by their constituents. They do not have a base and as I have always said I do not respect people who do not have a political base,¡¨ said Lemani.
Lemani said the group is asking UDF national chairman Bakili Muluzi to call for a mini-convention to review the UDF constitution in view of the outcome of the elections results.
The party has failed miserably to get majority seats in parliament. It managed to get a meagre 49 parliamentary seats.
¡§I know a lot of people in our party are not going to like me but this is the truth,¡¨ said Lemani.
UDF Publicity Secretary Ken Lipenga said the party strongly denies the existence of any group or faction, saying this would be detrimental to the survival of the party.
¡§The national executive committee has not met to do a postmortem of the elections and when we meet and a decision has been taken, it will be communicated to all. But Lemani might have said that in his personal capacity,¡¨ said Lipenga.
UDF secretary general Kennedy Makwangwala, who lost to an independent candidate Marjorie Ngaunje in Ntcheu Bwanje South, said he and his deputy Paul Maulidi, who also lost to another independent candidate Ettiner Koloviko in Blantyre North, should be spared.
¡§Some of us were very busy campaigning with the president and we did not have enough time to campaign in our constituencies. After all a secretary general and the deputy are not supposed to be MPs because they are busy with party affairs and neglect their constituencies,¡¨ said Makwangwala.
Top UDF officials who have lost include second deputy national chairman Ralph Mhone, national organising secretary Salim Bagus, executive member Sam Mpasu among others.

Has · Newbie

UDF men beat up lady activist

by Mc Donald Chapalapata, 23 May 2004 - 17:58:20

UDF supporters Sunday pounced on Civil Liberties Committee (Cilic) Executive Director Emmie Chanika at the Electoral Commission Tally Centre soon after the announcement of the general elections results in the full view of policemen.
It all started with UDF executive member Dumbo Lemani who was shouting on top of his voice, saying: ¡§Mulungu wanga amadana ndi mahule¡¨ (My God hates prostitutes) pointing at Chanika, who was meanwhile talking on her cellphone.
Chanika grabbed Lemani by the neck and broke a gold chain and a scuffle ensued. UDF Deputy Director of Research Humphrey Mvula moved in fast enough to contain the situation.
But things got out of hand when Chanika went outside where one of the UDF men Ken Ndanga, who was in the company of UDF officials, openly beat her up in full view of policemen who did not make any arrests.
There was commotion when civil society leaders, namely Ollen Mwalubunju and Robson Chitengo, tried to rescue Chanika from further blows from Ndanga.
She sat down on the floor and refused to be removed by police officers who wanted to arrest her for breaking Lemani¡¦s gold chain.
¡§This is uncalled for. How can police just watch when Chanika is being beaten like that? Who will protect innocent Malawians if UDF people are allowed to go scot free,¡¨ said a visibly shocked Mwalubunju.
Lemani and his crew left after Mvula persuaded them to leave.

Has · Newbie

Police closes down MIJ radio

by Mc Donald Chapalapata, 23 May 2004 - 18:57:40

Heavily armed police Sunday afternoon stormed and shut down Malawi Institute of Journalism (MIJ) community radio station in Blantyre because of an interview the station conducted with Mgwirizano coalition spokesperson Kholiwe Mkandawire.
Four journalists from the radio station were also arrested and were still at the Southern Region Police Headquarters at Chichiri when we went to press last evening.
Police were holding Arthur Chokotho, Wonder Msiska, Tony Khoza and station manager Evance Masamba. They were in the company of their lawyer Alinane Kauka.
Chokotho said in an interview from the police station that police stormed into MIJ premises at the Polytechnic in Blantyre and forced the announcers and the journalist out of the station and told them to shut down everything.
¡§We are here and they say they want the voice of Mkandawire and we are telling them when they forced us to shut down, the computer which was recording it was not properly shut and we might have lost the voice,¡¨ said Chokotho.
Kauka said from the police station that the police officers did not have a search warrant and suspected that they were arranging to have a warrant of arrest for the journalists last evening.
¡§We are talking now, but arresting them would be wrong because they acted professionally when they switched off the interview with Mkandawire when they thought that she was going too far. It was a live interview and they did not know what was coming,¡¨ said Kauka.
In the interview, Mkandawire told MIJ that the Mgwirizano Coalition was rejecting results of the general elections and that they would seal Chichiri Stadium so that people should not attend the inaugural ceremony of president-elect Bingu Mutharika. She also said the coalition will seal the airport not to allow foreign dignitaries to attend the ceremony.
National Media Institute for Southern Africa (Namisa) Malawi Chapter Executive Director Lowani Mtonga condemned the closure of MIJ by police.
¡§We are shocked that police decided to close the radio station. Everyone is free to express his or her own views using any media available in the country. Mkandawire had a right to express her views on MIJ. We demand the immediate release of the journalists,¡¨ said Mtonga.
Police Spokesperson Willie Mwaluka could not comment on the matter saying he was in a meeting.
But Malawi Law Society Secretary Linda Ziyendammanja said the closure of MIJ is unconstitutional because police do not have the mandate of closing down radio stations.
¡§It is also abuse of human rights for the journalists who have been arrested because it has no basis and cannot be supported with any principle in law. They have not even given any valid grounds for their action,¡¨ said Ziyendammanja.
Meanwhile, there were sporadic incidents of violence after the Electoral Commission announced that UDF¡¦s Bingu wa Mutharika had won the presidency as people looted shops and destroyed infrastructure in Blantyre.
Disgruntled opposition supporters looted a BP service station shop at Kudya in Zingwangwa township and a nearby post office, before attacking UDF¡¦s regional office in Chitawira, Blantyre, which was also attacked by anti-third term supporters in 2002.
They also burnt down trucks belonging former finance minister Friday Jumbe and destroyed property at his Sabreta Enterprises at Manja township in the city.
There were also running battles between the police and angry supporters in the Ndirande, Bangwe and Limbe and there was gun shots and tear-gas all over.
The angry supporters are said to have gone to UDF deputy director of research Humphrey Mvula¡¦s house where they demanded ¡¥his head¡¦ from his family.

Has · Newbie

Monday, 24 May 2004

National

MCP scoops House majority

by Aubrey Mchulu, 23 May 2004 - 18:58:38

Widely viewed as a weakened force after two parties split from it, MCP has emerged as the strongest political party from last Thursday¡¦s general elections winning 59 out of 193 seats in Parliament.
Twenty-seven women have also made it to Parliament, raising the number of female MPs by 10 from the previous House but this is still below the targeted 30 percent women¡¦s representation.
UDF, which won 91 seats during the 1999 elections, has won 49 seats followed by independent candidates who have swept 38 seats and Gwanda Chakuamba¡¦s five-month old Republican Party (RP) with 16.
Few seats for UDF means a minority government for president-elect Bingu Mutharika who will have to work with some opposition parties or independent MPs to attain the two-thirds majority of 128 MPs required to pass crucial constitutional amendment bills.
UDF¡¦s electoral coalition partner Aford, previously a dominant political force in the North, has managed only six out of 33 seats in the region. Aford had 30 seats in the previous Parliament.
Political upstarts People¡¦s Progressive Movement (PPM) and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) have won seven and eight seats respectively.
Movement for Genuine Democratic Change (Mgode), an Aford offshoot, has won three seats while Congress for National Unity (Conu) and People¡¦s Transformation Party (Petra) have won a seat each.
With eight independent MPs, Mangochi has the highest number of independents followed by Blantyre and Zomba with four each.
The official final results also show that UDF Central Region Governor Uladi Mussa has lost his Salima South constituency to MCP¡¦s R. Kamphinda as MCP swept all the five seats in the lakeshore district, including three previously held by UDF.
There were no parliamentary elections in six constituencies due to reasons ranging from court battles to death of some candidates. The six constituencies are Lilongwe East, Ntcheu South, Mangochi Lutende, Blantyre City East, Mzimba North and Mzimba South-East.
MCP, with only Peter Chiwona¡¦s Chitipa East seat outside its Central Region power base, has won eight of the nine seats in Kasungu with one going to an independent candidate, all seven in Dowa and three of four in Ntchisi where one went to PPM¡¦s Justin Malewezi.
MCP has also taken all seats in Mchinji and Dedza and 21 out of 22 in Lilongwe with the remaining seat pending a by-election.
In the Centre, UDF has won four seats in Nkhotakota and three in Ntcheu where heavyweights including party secretary general Kennedy Makwangwala and former Commerce and Industry Minister Sam Mpasu fell to independents.
Boniface Dulani, political scientist at the University of Malawi¡¦s Chancellor College, said the wide variety of parties in Parliament will give Malawians ¡§a truly multiparty and vibrant Parliament.¡¨
But, Dulani said fewer MPs for UDF will make governing difficult for Mutharika. He said the results, which show Mutharika getting about 35.5 percent of the vote, also show that democracy in the country is rewarding the minority since 64 percent of the registered voters have rejected Mutharika and his party.

Has · Newbie

Police disperse Mzuzu protestants with tear-gas

by Peter Makossah and Francis Tayanjah-Phiri, 23 May 2004 - 17:59:42

Scores of irate but peaceful Mzuzu City residents Sunday took to the streets chanting and singing in support of Mgwirizano Coalition presidential candidate Gwanda Chakuamba claiming he is the winner of Thursday¡¦s general elections.
The marchers, who comprised members of the seven parties in the coalition, gathered at Katoto Freedom Park at 8:30 AM but the police who were armed to teeth barred them from marching, saying they had orders not to allow the march for fear that other people would loot and damage property in the course of the demonstrations.
But the protestants defied the police orders and started to chant songs in praise of Chakuamba; ¡¥Tiyende pamodzi ndi Gwanda Chakuamba¡¦ (Let¡¦s walk together with Gwanda Chakuamba) Kwa Chakuamba ine toto kubwerera m¡¦mbuyo (with Chakuamba we don¡¦t want to go backwards).
The police at first just watched the marchers as they sang and danced in the Lilongwe - Mzuzu main road near Katoto Filling Station. The road from Lilongwe into Mzuzu was heavily blocked with the marchers chanting Gwanda! Gwanda! Gwanda! They never damaged any property.
Sensing danger, the police asked the chairperson of the marchers, Zipa Chimaliro a Peoples Progressive Movement (PPM) who lost the Mzuzu City parliamentary elections to Republican Party Goodson Kaira, to go to the police for discussions. But it appeared people were not ready to listen or be engaged in any discussion.
Later the police fired tear gas to disperse the protesants who had taken the road to Luwinga.
In a letter dated 23 May 2004, the police advised the marchers not to stage the demonstrations because other people may take advantage of the march to damage and loot property.
¡§I have been directed to inform you that you have not been permitted to carry out such a demonstration since the notice has been given without observing the time of 48 hours notice. The other reason is that people may join you and damage and steal,¡¨ said the letter from the police and signed by Mzuzu Police Station officer-in-charge an F Mulekano.
Five people were detained at Mzuzu police on suspicion that they were leading the protests. Kaira tried in vain to negotiate with the police to let the people to conduct the demonstrations, arguing that it was the marchers¡¦ constitutional right to express themselves.
¡§We cannot allow people to march. Should we say that Mzuzu City has elected a wrong candidate? Why do you encourage the people to protest? We will do our best to stop anyone from marching. Wait for the results and either celebrate or mourn peacefully. Some of these people are thieves and we cant just watch people looting other people¡¦s property,¡¨ Mulekano told Kaira.
The protests started on Saturday afternoon by Mzuzu University students joined by hordes of people in the City who were chanting pro-Chakuamba songs and anti-UDF slogans. They were dispersed by the police who came on the scene and fired tear-gas on the protestants.
Mafunde regional chair Bob Phiri, who was later picked by police for questioning, said in an interview there was no reason for police to intervene. He said by marching people were just exercising their right to protest the suspense the Electoral Commission had subjected them by not announcing results in good time.
He said: ¡§We all know why people are demonstrating. We know how people have voted and we are annoyed that these police officers are behaving like we are a police state. The vehicles they are using to threaten and tear-gas us were bought by our tax money, it¡¦s is time government changed.¡¨
Most of the marchers said they were irritated that they were hearing on radio that foreign dignitaries had started pouring in for swearing in ceremony when the nation was not aware who the president was.
Another confrontation occurred at Chibanja, midway to the university from Mzuzu City Centre, when police started firing bullets in the air, tear-gas and rubber bullets.
The police officers later also fired at those people peeping from their households along the main road at Chibanja, causing panic among innocent women and children.
Many people who were walking from churches also had to run for dear life as police could not spare anyone in sight. Some of the police officers threatened they would resort to live bullets, saying they had enough of arrogance from the marchers and on-lookers who were chanting in support of Chakuamba.