ELECTORAL COMMISSION REMAINS INEFFECTIVE,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LILONGWE 000326

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PINR MI
SUBJECT: ELECTORAL COMMISSION REMAINS INEFFECTIVE,
INEFFICIENT

REF: A. 03 LILONGWE 1202


B. LILONGWE 124

SUMMARY
--------------

1. (SBU) Ineffectiveness and inefficiency have marked the
Malawi Electoral Commission's (MEC) preparations for the May
18 elections. One million "extra" names on the official
voting roster, overexpenditures resulting in a 26% increase
in the elections budget, and failure to assure equitable
coverage by the state-owned media are issues MEC has not yet
resolved. These issues, along with concerns about polling
logistics, have been apparent since the January registration
period ended, and MEC has done little to rectify them. As
international observers arrive and elections debate
intensifies, time is running out for MEC. END SUMMARY.

ONE MILLION "EXTRA" REGISTERED VOTERS
--------------

2. (SBU) After completing the initial processing of
registration forms, the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC)
announced the official rolls have 6.6 million registered
voters. The National Statistics Office (NSO) subsequently
stated that the estimated voting-age population of Malawi is
5.5 million. When queried about the one million "extra"
names on the rolls (assuming a full 100% of eligible voters
registered),MEC officials publicly conceded that their
figures may be inflated by the inclusion of deceased voters,
voter transfers, and underage registrants on the rolls
(reftel B). MEC hopes registered voters and political party
officials will help "clean up" the voter rolls during the
verification process on April 28 and 30. However, opposition
parties and civil society leaders, noting the verification
process was supposed to last a full week and was to have been
completed by now, have argued that two days are insufficient
for the rolls to be accurately verified, and they have
suggested the inflated numbers are evidence of rigging.

26% INCREASE IN ELECTIONS BUDGET
--------------

3. (SBU) As of mid-March, it became clear that MEC had
overspent its original budget of USD 14.6 million, and so it
initiated a round of meetings with the Ministry of Finance
(MOF) and the donor community to approve a new budget of USD
25 million. Negotiations eventually produced a new budget of
USD 18.4 million, a 26% increase from the original. While
MEC has asked the donor community and MOF to "sign on" to the
new budget, it has received no firm commitments of new
funding. The donor community, which has provided almost USD
6 million in elections support, is unwilling to offer any
substantial new assistance. It is unclear at this time how
the GOM will make up the shortfall.

UNEQUAL COVERAGE BY STATE-OWNED MEDIA
--------------

4. (SBU) Since the official campaign period began on March
20, state-owned radio and TV, the only media with national
reach, have provided the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF)
with highly unequal access to airtime. According to the MEC
Media Monitoring Unit, which produces weekly reports on media
coverage of political parties, the ratio of
ruling-to-opposition party overall coverage by Malawi
Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) radio was 19-to-1. For TV
Malawi (TVM),it was 5-to-1.


5. (SBU) The MEC Media Monitoring Unit has made its media
analysis public, but only at the insistence of the donor
community. MEC officials, while reluctantly acknowledging a
problem of media access exists, say they are powerless to
force the media houses to comply with the elections
legislation that requires MBC and TVM to provide equitable
access to political parties. Civil society and opposition
parties have repeatedly raised these concerns with MEC and
say the MEC has the authority to ensure compliance, and the
opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has filed
lawsuits against MEC, MBC, and TVM.

INTERNATIONAL OBSERVATIONS
--------------

6. (U) The European Union Elections Observation Team arrived
on April 6, and at an April 8 press conference said that
their initial observations were that opposition parties
lacked access to public media and that the ruling UDF
appeared to be using state resources in its campaign. These
observations, the EU Team said, would appear in their final
report on the election's overall freeness and fairness. SADC
Parliamentary Forum and British Commonwealth Secretariat
Observer Teams are also scheduled to observe the elections.

HAPLESS CONSULTATIVE FORUM MEETING
--------------

7. (SBU) At an April 19 National Elections Consultative Forum
(NECOF) meeting, civil society, political parties, and other
interested groups questioned MEC on the voter rolls, the
elections budget, and opposition access to media. MEC, MBC,
TVM, and ruling UDF officials gave derisory responses, and
the meeting deteriorated into an unproductive verbal shouting
match.

MEC'S INTERNAL TROUBLES
--------------

8. (SBU) In addition to its other operational troubles, MEC
suspended Chief Elections Officer George Chimwaza on April 13
for using MEC vehicles to support his wife's parliamentary
campaign. Chimwaza has been replaced by Roosevelt Gondwe,
Clerk of Parliament currently seconded to MEC.

COMMENT
--------------

9. (SBU) Gondwe is a capable civil servant, and his
substitution for the ineffectual Chimwaza is a welcome
change. With less than a month to go before the elections,
however, the challenges of removing the "extra" million
voters on the rolls, of finding a fix for the MEC's budgetary
problems, and of bringing efficiency to the organization may
be insurmountable. END COMMENT.
DOUGHERTY