Ladies and Gentlemen, Greetings
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| Commissioner Tembo (5L) with MEC staff and stakeholders |
Ladies and
Gentlemen, before I go any further in my speech I should thank all of you for
the critical roles that you played during the Tripartite Elections, starting
from demarcation process up to results announcements. There were challenges but
with your dedication and commitment the nation held a credible election. We had
a national turnout of 70.1 percent. The percentage of
null and void votes also dropped from 2.54 % in 2009 general elections to 1.09
percent. This is against a major concern that tripartite elections would result
in more null and void votes as it was a first of its kind.
These achievements did not come on a silver
platter but was a culmination of individual and collective efforts to make
elections a success and you contributed to that.
We are here to reflect on the May 20 tripartite
elections. In the past elections, election review meetings have been conducted
at national level. Although such approach is good but it denies an opportunity
to get reflections at the local or council level.
As we meet today several organizations including
National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE), Institute for Policy
Interaction (IPI) and Malawi Electoral Support Network (MESN) have conducted
national conferences to review the past elections. The meetings have so far
yielded rich information on the conduct of the elections at national level. In
consideration of the efforts by these stakeholders, the Commission decided to
hold the review meetings at council level. There are many challenges and best
practices experienced at council level, which may not be well highlighted at
national conferences. Therefore, the meeting today offers an opportunity for us
to share our experiences and recommendations that will contribute to the
improvement on organisation of elections in this country.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I, therefore urge you to
take active participation in this meeting. Mention the areas that went on well
and also those that did not go on well. If you don’t mention something that did
not go well, just know that you are creating a fertile ground for its repetition
in the 2019 elections or any election that might be held in between.
The Commission has adopted an electoral cycle
approach to elections. This means that preparations for 2019 elections will
start now and not in 2018 with just a year to go. We are also encouraging our
stakeholders and structures to embrace the same approach.
The Information that you will give here will help
in preparations for the 2019 elections. The Commission is committed to adopting
electoral reviews that will help it provide better and efficient elections.
Therefore, this is your platform to suggest the reforms or new ways of doing
things that will give us better results. We cannot continue to do the same
things and expect better results. If we want an improvement in the delivery of
elections, we need to change what we are doing.
Ladies and Gentlemen, today the Commission will
do much of the listening and we give you the platform to speak.
Before I conclude, I would like to thank the European
Union the Democratic Governance Programme (EU DGP) for providing the financial
resources that have enabled the Commission to hold the post-elections review
meetings in all councils across the country.
The EU DGP has been a very good partner in that
is has supported the capacity building of the Commission staff and partners
through trainings. The EU DGP also supported the Commission in developing of
its current Strategic Plan and the Civic and Voter Education Strategy.
With these remarks, allow me to wish you a
fruitful review meeting.
I now have the honour and privileged to declare
this post-election meeting opened.
God bless you.
