LL By-elections Postponed
Malawi Electoral Commission MEC has postponed by-elections in Lilongwe LL South constituency because of violence.
Chief elections officer Sam Alfandika says the postponement follows the meeting they held on Tuesday to review the situation as well as the environment and consider complaints received regarding campaign environment.
Alfandika says since the launch of the campaign period on 19th October the commission has received a complaint regarding the volatile situation in Lilongwe south.
“The commission and staff have also been victims. On 25 October 2019 one of the MEC Commissioners was blocked and stoned while on a campaign monitoring exercise. Secretariat staff who were putting up posters were also stopped and verbally intimidated. The intimidation was intense that the commission was forced to postpone all public voter stabilization meetings and activities that it had planned in the constituency,” says Alfandika
He says the commission tried to quell the situation through convening a Multiparty Liason Committee meeting on October 25 but the situation has not improved.
Alfandika added that on October 27 some people were assaulted and their houses as well as property burnt and looted.
Therefore the commission has postponed the by-elections in Lilongwe south to safeguard life and property of the people of the constituency and also MEC.
However, Alfandika says the by-elections will proceed as planned in Matenje ward because MEC did not receive or witness any act of violence.
