Africa-Press – Malawi. Lawyer for the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), UTM and others will today file the case against the Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) on the issue of refusal to audit the voting system.
Lawyer representing the litigants, Bob Chimkango, told The Daily Times that everything has been put together for the action of the court.
“We are challenging biometric identification of voters at polling stations. We are challenging Mec’s decision to use Smartmatic [machines] to transmit the results,” Chimkango said.
He said all his clients wanted was the use of a manual system that was used in 2020, which he said worked perfectly.
“And one may ask, if the Smartmatic system is what they say it is—a perfect system to run an election on—then what are they hiding that they can’t allow it to be audited?” Chimkango said.
He further said he believed that the case would be concluded in time as Mec will have to reply within 14 days after the submission by the concerned parties before hearing will be set.
The opposition sought permission for a judicial review on the decision of Mec not to allow an audit into its machines, and was dully granted.
Mec Chairperson Judge Annabel Mtalimanja said the commission was open to an audit, provided it was based on specific irregularities and anomalies observed in the commission’s electoral processes or data.
She said that political parties had been given opportunities to appreciate the functionalities of electronic management devices (EMDs) and processes within the Voter Registration Module of the Election Management System.
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