OPPOSITION UNHAPPY DESPITE MODEST MEC IMPROVEMENTS

UNCLAS LILONGWE 000381

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PINR MI
SUBJECT: OPPOSITION UNHAPPY DESPITE MODEST MEC IMPROVEMENTS

REF: A. 03 LILONGWE 1202


B. LILONGWE 326

SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) The Malawian Electoral Commission (MEC) announced
the newly "cleaned-up" voters' roll has been reduced by
nearly one million names, and publicly acknowledged the
state-owned media houses' clear bias for the ruling United
Democratic Front (UDF). Unsatisfied with the progress on the
voters' roll, the Mgwirizano Coalition has filed a lawsuit
against MEC, UDF, and the Attorney General for failure to
comply with the legally mandated 21 days between the voters'
roll verification and polling day. Meanwhile, the Catholic
churches have reminded their 4 million faithful to evaluate
presidential candidates based on their track records and to
vote accordingly. END SUMMARY.

5.7 MILLION VOTERS
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2. (U) MEC announced on May 6 that the updated voters' roll
has 5.7 million voters, following a clean-up by a South
African computer firm. The reduction from 6.6 million
voters, Chief Elections Officer Roosevelt Gondwe said, is a
result of removing double registrants who re-registered
rather than filing requests for transfer. The new number is
much closer to the National Statistical Office's projected
voter age population of 5.5 million.

MEC DECLARES STATE-OWNED MEDIA COVERAGE BIASED
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3. (U) MEC Chair Justice James Kalaile told SADC
Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) Elections Observers on May 6
that state-owned media houses Malawi Broadcasting Corporation
(MBC) and Television Malawi (TVM) have not provided equitable
coverage to all political parties. Citing reports from the
MEC's Media Monitoring Unit that indicate a clear bias in
favor of the ruling party, Kalaile said: "Previous elections
were fairly covered because the management of MBC and TVM
cooperated well with MEC then."

COALITION SUES OVER VERIFICATION PROCESS AND VOTERS' ROLL
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4. (U) The Mgwirizano Coalition filed a lawsuit on May 5
against MEC, UDF, and the Attorney General for failure to
provide the legally mandated 21 days between verification of
the voters' roll and polling day. The lawsuit, which also
seeks redress for the UDF's use of public resources to
campaign, requests that the courts seize the extra ballots
that are no longer necessary because of the voters' roll
reductions, as MEC had 7.4 million ballots printed. The
court proceedings will begin on May 12. (NOTE: A similar
abridgment of the verification period in 1999 resulted in
one-month postponement of the elections.)


5. (U) The Coalition's lawsuits follows a separate lawsuit by
the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) against MEC and the
state-owned media houses for biased coverage in favor of the
ruling UDF (reftel B). The ruling is expected May 14, two
days before the official campaign period is scheduled to end.

GUIDING THEIR FLOCKS
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6. (U) To provide guidance to Malawi's 4 million Catholics,
priests re-read at May 9 masses the November Pastoral Letter
entitled "Reconsidering the Future of Our Country: Genuine
Change Required." The letter, while not overtly supporting
any political party, asks followers to evaluate leaders on
their track records and to vote accordingly. In the call for
change, some priests reportedly said Malawi does not "need an
economic technician or somebody coming from a party which is
preaching that this year's elections are not about changing
government. We need someone who can change this country."
The media has reported the Catholic Church's statements as
anti-UDF.

COMMENT
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7. (SBU) There is no question that most churches,
particularly the dominant Catholics and Presbyterians, are
against the ruling UDF and Mutharika. However, they have not
demonstrated support for any one individual in opposition.
In the absence of clear direction, the opposition vote will
remain divided.
BROWNING