DPP Files Electoral Complaints to the Donor Community, Seeks Special Security

The main opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party-DPP has filed a complaint to several bilateral donors including the United Nations, African Union alleging that the ruling Malawi Congress Party-MCP is using intimidation, violence and harassment through Police and Army to suppress dissent and manipulate elections.

According to the letter signed by the Secretary General of the DPP, Peter Mukhito, the party is reporting to the donor community on heinous alleged crimes that the ruling MCP is using to interfere, restrict access to freedom of assembly and demonstrations and yet the state security agencies stand by watching people being hacked.

“On the occasion of a peaceful demonstration organized by citizens exercising their democratic right to free expression, individuals believed to be state – sponsored assailants launched a brutal attack using dangerous weapons, including panga knives. One of the organizers of the demonstrations, Mr Silvester Namiwa, sustained grievous harm in the attack.” Mukhito lamented.

Alarmingly, this act of violence unfolded in full view of personnel from both the Malawi Defence Force and Malawi Police Service, who failed to intervene despite their mandate to protect civilians and uphold public order.

“The event, occurring merely two months before Malawi’s scheduled tripartite elections on September 16th, gravely undermines public confidence in the safety, transparency and fairness of the electoral process.

The use of intimidation and violence against peaceful protesters is a blatant violation of democratic principles and poses a direct threat to national peace and stability,” indicates Mukhito who is also a former Inspector General of Police.

Mukhito has since appealed to the international community for urgent intervention by deploying security observers or peacekeeping personnel to Malawi ahead of September polls with an aim of safeguarding peace and stability and electoral process.

The letter has been reported to the following agencies and embassies, the British High Commission, Human Rights Watch, European External Action Service, Germany Embassy, African Union, US Embassy in Malawi, Amnesty International, EU offices in Malawi, Norwegian Embassy, SADC Headquarters, UN office on Human Rights in Switzerland and UN Resident Coordinator in Malawi.

Two days ago, the Malawians went to the street across the country to protest against the MEC operations by demanding an independent audit on election data, a thing MEC has denied.

Several independent watchdogs have accused the government of creating an environment of fear and intimidation, making it difficult for voters to express their will.