MALAWI: EU and Commonwealth observers express concern over Malawian Presidential election campaign

Record ID: 574892

  • Title: MALAWI: EU and Commonwealth observers express concern over Malawian Presidential election campaign
  • Date: 22nd May 2009
  • Summary: BLANTYRE, MALAWI (MAY 21, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF JOURNALISTS CHAIRMAN OF COMMONWEALTH OBSERVER GROUP TO MALAWI AND FORMER GHANAIAN PRESIDENT JOHN KUFUOR ARRIVES FOR NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHAIRMAN OF COMMONWEALTH OBSERVER GROUP TO MALAWI AND FORMER GHANAIAN PRESIDENT, JOHN KUFUOR, SAYING: "It is a credit to political parties that the campaign was conducted in a largely peaceful manner, however, the overwhelming impact of the exploitation of the incumbency advantage especially the ownership of unashamed bias of the state television and radio created a markedly unlevelled playing field, tarnishing the otherwise, the democratic character of the campaign." JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHAIRMAN OF COMMONWEALTH OBSERVER GROUP TO MALAWI AND FORMER GHANAIAN PRESIDENT, JOHN KUFUOR SAYING: "Malawi is in the right direction and we are trying to encourage the nation to even develop more in this direction, it compares well with many other places on the continent of Africa." VARIOUS OF JOURNALISTS AT THE EUROPEAN UNION NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF OBSERVER FROM EUROPEAN UNION, LUISA MORGANTINI, SAYING: "We underline what we have seen and what we have seen is that it may have been like that in 1994, 1999 and 2004 that there is an abuse of state resources for the running of the elections. so, it is up to the malawian people and malawian political parties to solve that answer." VARIOUS NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 6th June 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Malawi
  • Country: Malawi
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA8K3ITV7OPT5HGBTHDYK4HCFKN
  • Story Text: As the Malawian President leads vote with wide margin Commonwealth and European Union monitoring missions say he enjoyed an unfair advantage in the election, including partisan reporting by state media.
    The Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika was well ahead on Thursday (May 21) with almost 80 percent of constituencies counted in an election viewed as a test for political stability in the poor but rapidly growing southern African country.
    A Commonwealth election monitoring mission earlier said wa Mutharika had exploited state media to gain an unfair advantage in the election but said the opposition should drop its protest.
    "It is a credit to political parties that the campaign was conducted in a largely peaceful manner, however, the overwhelming impact of the exploitation of the incumbency advantage especially the ownership of unashamed bias of the state television and radio created a markedly unlevelled playing field, tarnishing the otherwise, the democratic character of the campaign," John Kufuor, head of the Commonwealth mission and Ghana's former president, told journalists at a news conference in Malawian capital.
    At a separate news conference the European Union chief observer expressed similar concerns.
    "We underline what we have seen and what we have seen is that it may have been like that in 1994, 1999 and 2004 that there is an abuse of state resources for the running of the elections. so, it is up to the malawian people and malawian political parties to solve that answer," said Luisa Morgantini, chief observer from the European Union.
    Wa Mutharika based his campaign for a second term on his record of making Malawi a net food exporter and delivering three years of growth above 7 percent in the country of 13 million where annual gross domestic product is only $313 per capita.
    Electoral Commission head Anastasia Msosa said votes had been counted and verified from 153 out of 193 constituencies -- nearly 80 percent.
    Malawi's main opposition leader John Tembo accused the government of rigging an election and vowed to contest the result in court.
    Former president and leader of the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) Bakili Muluzi, who was excluded from standing himself but had formed an alliance with Malawi Congress Party (MCP) Leader Tembo, acknowledged wa Mutharika had won and vowed to support the new government.
    Malawi has the world's second-fastest growing economy, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. But further political upheaval could hurt efforts to attract more foreign investors.
    Parliamentary elections were also held on Tuesday (May 19) and wa Mutharika hopes it will give him a majority for the first time.
    After initial protests from the opposition on Wednesday, the electoral commission said complaints would only be dealt with after all votes had been received.
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