MALAWI ELECTORAL COMMISSION IRREGULARITIES AND PILOTING PARALLEL TALLY CENTERS RISK MAY 20 ELECTIONS CREDIBILITY. John Davies Phiri Adoption of democracy meant the citizenry were tired with the conduct and actions dealt in the dark and behind every political move or affairs in the country. Transparency and Accountability as some pillars of democracy come into effect after 1993 referendum. But to what extent has been the Malawi Electoral Commission - MEC on transparency and accountability in exercising its mandate to manage elections? Probably, it should be the reason electoral stakeholders strongly believe the need to establish Parallel Tally Centers should not be considered as a thorn in the flesh. CRITIQUE MALAWI also agrees to have such extra independent electoral management service considering a valid observation that almost all of the past election deemed unfair or not credible. Should we blame the nature of our constitution or laxity of our electoral body, hence appreciating the need for parallel tally centers? Though parallel rally centers may be a good initiate to allow transparency and accountability in election management, for the good of our democracy, a lot leaves to be desire if the current arrangement is to be implemented as it is by the stakeholders involved. The capacity of stakeholders who are advancing the implementation of parallel tally centers is not only questionable but risky. Perhaps, other Malawians who are for the parallel tallying are not aware that a crop of civil society behind the initiative is doing this on a pilot basis. Playing with fire or malawi a moto. When CRITIQUE MALAWI was establishing some facts on the issue, one of MEC Commissioners expressed a worry to do with proficiency by the proponents of the parallel centers. Further, disclosed that those who are behind the parallel tallying have no reasonable capacity to be available in all polling centers across the country for credible monitoring and report to balance the electoral results in a holistic manner to avoid tension. However, the commissioner was quick to mention that as one way of promoting principles of transparency and accountability, such stakeholder initiative is paramount to allow democracy work. Still, CRITIQUE MALAWI; observe one of the weaknesses of these tallying centers being not to be available at each polling station across the country. If indeed those behind the move are serious and objective enough, why not have the services at each and every polling center so that they give Malawians a comprehensive picture of the whole tripartite election that only being selective in establishing parallel centers? Failing to get organized for a good cause is getting organized for a mess. It can never be possible that results from all centers will be uniform. What if in Thondwe a certain party will be leading with a big margin, and the same party registering poor results elsewhere in Chitipa where services of parallel tally center may not be available? Much as official results will be from the official mandated referee of the political game, MEC, will this not cause chaos and risk the credibility of the election? All this concern engulfs the Critique team because for decades we have passed through, some civil societies have clearly aligned themselves to some political party ideals under the auspices of freedom of association. Therefore, if a party they secretly support, at various selected centers, where the party will be registering parallel to their expectations, are they going to sustain their credibility? Nevertheless, Malawians need to be civic educated to understand the idea of parallel tallying. Yes, that is for the future but for now, piloting the initiative is risky because not all polling centers will have parallel tallying centers. Where there will be no such service, what if MEC and ruling party will play their political tactics to carry the day of the most sensitive periodic political activity, election. At the moment, the question to understand the risk of piloting the parallel tally center remains; between Malawi Electoral Commission and Civil society behind parallel tallying, who is going to be trusted? This fever generates considering that Malawians have been subscribing their loyalty to the civil society and here is election, so averse issue that has defined democracy a necessary evil. Parallel tally centers, for transparency and accountability, yes, but not on a pilot basis. If it is to be effective, let the civil society pool the resources together and implement the good cause to make democracy work.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 11:25:18 +0000
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