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Viewing cable 09LILONGWE220, MALAWI ELECTIONS UPDATE - RUSHING TO ADDRESS

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09LILONGWE220 2009-04-21 12:10 2011-08-26 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Lilongwe
VZCZCXRO5008
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHLG #0220/01 1111210
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211210Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY LILONGWE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0447
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0340
RUEHBZ/AMEMBASSY BRAZZAVILLE 0026
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LILONGWE 000220 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM MI
SUBJECT: MALAWI ELECTIONS UPDATE - RUSHING TO ADDRESS 
REGISTRATION AND BUDGET PROBLEMS 
 
REF: A. LILONGWE 183 AND PREVIOUS 
     B. LILONGWE 198 
 
LILONGWE 00000220  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: The inspection of Malawi's new voter roll 
revealed numerous problems, including 50,000 missing 
registrants and over 300,000 people with data errors.  To 
quell political party complaints and add the missing voters, 
the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has hired 550 temporary 
staff to reconcile paper registration forms with the voters 
roll.  Budget shortfalls have prevented the MEC from paying 
the deposit for printing ballots and other polling materials. 
 The UNDP-managed election trust fund will help the MEC meet 
these immediate needs, while deferring others.  Former 
president Muluzi continues to challenge the MEC's ruling that 
he is ineligible to run for president, but it is unlikely the 
court will rule on the matter before the scheduled ballot 
printing on April 28.  Muluzi has in any case publicly thrown 
his full support to Malawi Congress Party (MCP) candidate 
John Tembo (septel).  According to the MEC's media monitoring 
unit, both major daily newspapers and the largest independent 
radio stations are providing fair and balanced coverage of 
political parties and election events.  State radio 
broadcaster Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) and 
Television Malawi, however, have devoted over 95% of their 
coverage to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). 
End Summary. 
 
Registration Problems Surprise MEC 
---------------------------------- 
 
2. (SBU) Public inspection of Malawi's new electronic voters' 
roll ended on April 10.  The inspection uncovered numerous 
problems, including large numbers of missing voters at many 
polling stations.  While a few stations were missing over 25% 
of the expected registrants from the roll, the MEC said they 
believe approximately 50,000 voters (less than 1% of the 
total registered) were actually affected.  The MEC indicated 
the problems were not clustered in key districts, as some 
political parties had feared, but rather appeared to be 
widely dispersed throughout the country.  The MEC said the 
missing voters were in the registration system, but lacked a 
polling station number on their forms so the system left them 
off the roll.  To correct the problem, the MEC has hired 550 
temporary workers to review paper registration forms and make 
the additions. 
 
3. (SBU) In addition to missing voters, over 300,000 voters 
names (5% of the total registered) had data errors such as 
misspelled names.  Due to the high error rate, the MEC 
announced it will change the final voters roll format so that 
it is printed in voter identification number order instead of 
alphabetical order.  To help facilitate voting by people who 
have lost their voter identification cards, the MEC will also 
print a cross-reference report of voter ID numbers in 
alphabetical order for each station.  However, the MEC will 
still not allow those who do not appear on the final roll to 
vote, even if they have valid MEC ID cards. 
 
MEC Money Problems Persist 
-------------------------- 
 
4. (SBU) The MEC presented a supplementary budget request of 
$10.5 million USD on April 9.  The MEC asked for the 
additional funds due to the extended voter registration 
exercise and cost overruns in many departments.  The 
government of Malawi initially said it could pay for 56% of 
the new request, but has not released any additional funds 
yet.  Election trust fund contributors, who are still trying 
to address $3.2 million USD in exchange rate losses on their 
original pledges, have indicated they will not be able to 
contribute any new money to meet the shortfall.  UNDP and the 
European Union said they would be willing to reallocate money 
from other projects, but the GOM must tell them from which 
projects to take the money.  Japan, who had previously not 
contributed to the election, will direct $1.4 million towards 
generators, vehicles, and computers for polling day. 
 
5. (SBU) Without additional government or donor funding, the 
MEC is experiencing serious liquidity problems.  Despite 
signing contracts for ballot papers, indelible ink, and other 
polling materials, the MEC has been unable to pay deposits. 
To help, the UNDP-managed election trust fund has agreed to 
defer final payments on voter registration equipment to free 
up $1.97 million USD for the new contracts.  Of this funding, 
$1.4 million USD will go to a 50% deposit for the ballot 
printer who should complete ballot printing on April 28.  The 
MEC said they plan to have all ballots and other election 
 
LILONGWE 00000220  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
materials in Malawi by May 8. 
 
Muluzi Quits Race, But Not Courts 
--------------------------------- 
 
6. (U) After the Constitutional Court dismissed his initial 
challenge of the MEC's decision to declare him ineligible to 
run for president on legal technicalities (ref b), former 
president Bakili Muluzi redrafted and refiled his challenge. 
The Court has now accepted the case and Muluzi is awaiting a 
hearing date.  While he has vowed to continue his court 
battle, Muluzi told supporters he was bowing out of the race 
in 2009 and held his first joint rally with new alliance 
partner, the MCP's John Tembo, on April 18 (septel). 
 
MEC Scraps High Tech 
-------------------- 
 
7. (SBU) After being shocked by the large number of errors in 
the computerized voters roll, the MEC has reconsidered using 
a computer-based results transmission system.  The MEC said 
it will now send results sheets via fax from 29 district 
offices to the MEC headquarters.  The MEC is also considering 
tallying the votes at the constituency level and sending only 
one results sheet per constituency via fax.  However, the MEC 
noted that while this option would simplify the reporting 
process, it would not allow the MEC to provide progressive 
results from individual polling stations as previously 
planned.  The MEC will have generators at all 29 district 
locations to ensure fax capabilities work on polling day. 
 
State Media - All DPP 
--------------------- 
 
8. (U) According to both the MEC's media monitoring unit and 
the Malawi Communications Regulatory Agency (MACRA), both 
major daily newspapers and the largest independent radio 
stations are providing fair and balanced coverage of 
political parties and election events.  However state radio 
broadcaster Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) and 
Television Malawi have devoted over 95% of their coverage to 
the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).  Joy Radio, 
owned in part by former president Muluzi, has countered by 
devoting over 90% of its coverage to Muluzi's United 
Democratic Front.  Despite MBC's national reach, the MEC said 
they will also use independent radio station Zodiac 
Broadcasting Service to announce results to ensure broad and 
fair coverage. 
 
Bingu Gets Top Billing on Ballot 
-------------------------------- 
 
9. (U) Taking advantage of Malawi electoral law which allows 
for each candidate to specify how they want their name to 
appear on the ballot, President Bingu wa Mutharika asked to 
be listed only as Bingu.  The six other candidates all 
submitted their full names.  The MEC said the ballot will 
list candidates in alphabetical order by surname.  With 
Mutharika dropping his surname, he has effectively moved his 
name from the middle to the top of the presidential ballot. 
 
Finances and Legal Challenges Still Threaten Polling Date 
----------------------------- --------------------------- 
 
10. (SBU) Comment: Logistically and operationally, the MEC 
remains on track to hold elections on May 19.  Inadequate 
finances remain a problem, but trust fund donors have been 
clear about their limitations regarding additional funding. 
It will now be up to the GOM to decide what level of funding 
is essential to holding the elections and to provide it to 
the MEC in time.  The Muluzi challenge remains another 
potential threat to the election schedule.  The former 
president's case is not likely to be finished before ballots 
are printed and, if reversed, could leave the MEC with 6.5 
million ballots that have to be modified before elections can 
take place.  End Comment. 
BODDE