Malawi opposition protests challenge President Mutharika’s re-election

Malawi opposition protests challenge President Mutharika’s re-election

LILONGWE- The Capitol Hill, the seat of government in Lilongwe was under siege on Tuesday as masses of opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and its union partners swore to choke government operations.

Angry Opposition supporters say they are protesting the outcome of the just-ended May 21 elections. The demonstrations are a follow up to last week’s Friday demo in the streets of Malawi’s Lilongwe.

Malawi President Peter Mutharika won, he was leading the ruling Democratic Peoples Party(DPP) polled 1,940,709(38.57%). The main opposition Malawi Congress Party, MCP, led by Lazarus Chakwera(MCP0:1,740(35,41%).

Mutharika’s immediate past vice president Saulos Chilima came in third with a 1,107,369(20,24%), according to Africanews. Malawi’s laws permit the president to be sworn in immediately after the results are declared.

The MCP and Freedom Party supporters marched from the MCP headquarters to the Capital Hill in a calm protest to throw out all civil servants from their offices. The protestors zealously chanted songs in praise of MCP president Lazarus Chakwera and demonizing Mutharika for getting the presidency through what they dubbed the famous correction fluid Tippex

The march was labeled “Mutharika must fall”.The party protesters carried placards scribed ‘Mutharika must fall’ and ‘WHO SUPPLIED TIPPEX ??’ among protesters mostly were comprising youths clad in the party’s red T-shirts and without relenting. They were carrying tree branches singing anti-DPP songs and heaping praise on Lazarus Chakwera as the legitimate winner of the highly contested plebiscites.

There was a stand-off at the gates of the Capital Hill as police officers manning the gates only allowing a few party representatives to get into the government seat. The MCP supporters overpowered the police at the Capitol Hill gates and got into the government compound. They are in now control of the gates.

The supporters managed to force everyone out of office. Police deployed a contingent of law enforcers to put Capitol Hill under lockdown.

According to Nyasa Times in a case filed at the Lilongwe Registry of the High Court of Malawi by MCP’s lawyers’ Senior Counsel Titus Mvalo, identifies the country’s oldest political establishment as the first claimant in the case, party head honcho and Chakwera as the second claimant with electoral body MEC as the defendant.

In an affidavit, Mvalo explicitly accuses DPP members, sympathizers, supporters, agents and officials of engaging in “several rigging acts” that allegedly contorted the results in favour of DPP “against the votes and will of the people of Malawi”.

On the claims, there was an official caught tampering with the results in Nsanje district his name Fred Thomas. Mvalo also cites cases of pre-marked ballot papers allegedly stuffed in ballot boxes in Zomba, Mangochi and Machinga districts.

The MCP quoted cases of presiding officers at some polling stations in Dedza and Lilongwe districts who allegedly denied MCP election monitors access to copies of results sheets. Also in an affidavit, they mentioned an incident in Neno districts where there was  “an anomaly of presidential votes being 18 000 more than the parliamentary votes cast which raises the question of how that was possible”

MCP asserts that Mutharika  “won a dishonest election” full of irregularities, including alleged stuffing of ballot papers with pre-marked ballots, tampering with plebiscite results sheets through tippex and being found in possession of results sheets at home.