Group One: covered Chikwawa and Nsanje districts;
Group Two: covered Blantyre, Chiradzulu, Mulanje, Phalombe and Thyolo;
Group Three: covered Balaka, Machinga, Mangochi and Zomba.
The PACENET was accredited under MESN to observe the electoral process for the May, 2009 elections while ZESN officials were accredited by MEC upon arrival in the country as per the Malawi Electoral laws. PACENET under the 50-50 National Campaign for more women in parliament and through women candidates trained and deployed over 1,200 local monitors in over thirty constituencies in the southern region .The following therefore, is a statement made by the two organizations on the proceedings and outcome of Election Day process culminating into the closing of polling stations on 19th May 2009. The Observations presented below are based on the election-day observation process.
The Observation team has not done an analysis of voting results and will therefore not be able to comment on the official election results even when the official results are announced by the Electoral Commission.
2. SUMMARY OF OBSERVATION
ELECTION DAY
Across the southern region the observers team noted that there were monitors and that the majority of polling streams opened on time at 6 a.m.There were few cases of irregularities which affected the rights of citizens to vote. However, the following were notable anomalies:
Some party candidates used party colours and this caused some debate resulting in delaying the opening of the polling station
Some voters did not process their transfers which led to some voters being denied the right to vote even though they could have a voters registration certificate. The EC later issued a statement to correct the situation.
Some stations did not have adequate voting materials including fuel and a voters roll.
The presence of armed Defense Force was very threatening: in some areas the police officers were controlling the queues and even counting of votes.
Some EC officials did not seem to be in control of the situation on polling streams resulting in long queues which compromised the secrecy of the vote cast.
There was no standard method of assisting those who could not make choices on the ballot paper due to illiteracy and old age. It appears the EC did not adequately prepare its polling staff in advance.
CLOSING OF THE POLLING STREAMS AND THE COUNTING PROCESS
The closing of polling stations and commencement of the counting process took place without major incidents. Apart from problems of lighting during the counting caused by faulty generators or lack of fuel the counting process commenced at 6 pm and continued though out the night.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The team would like to make the following recommendations in order to improve on the challenges faced so far:
Need for the EC to train its polling day staff well in advance
EC to provide lamps and torches besides generators
Monitors to be properly trained and motivated
EC with technical assistance from other civil society organisations to develop a comprehensive training tool for polling staff as well as monitors
Civic and voter education to be intensified and not to wait until Election Day.
CONCLUSION
The voting process generally took place without major incidents. In our view the polling day events were done in a peaceful, free and fair manner. We encourage all Malawians to exercise patience as they wait for the official announcement of results by the EC. We call upon all contestants to follow the normal process of channeling electoral complaints and avoid any violence. Those who will be celebrating victory should do so without provoking the losers.
Mrs. Veronica Sembereka Okay Machisa
PACENET Board Member ZESN Board Member