The Malawi Government has described Malawi Congress Party (MCP) supporters as intruders after they took to streets to protest against presidential results at Capital Hill in Lilongwe on Tuesday.
“Government wishes to inform the general public that Capital Hill and all other Government offices will be safeguarded, by all means possible, so that the public is not denied the services. The government further assures the general public that the Rule of Law will take its course,” read a part of the government’s press statement signed by chief secretary to the government, Lloyd Muhara, reported Malawi 24.
The government also provided tight security to Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson Jane Ansah in wake of the Tuesday protests.
The opposition supporters in Malawi marched through the capital Lilongwe and stormed into government offices on Tuesday to protest against President Peter Mutharika. The supporters want president Mutharika to resign after an election they say was rigged.
The supporters of the opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) allege that their leader Lazarus Chakwera was robbed of victory in the election. They claim that there is evidence of serious irregularities which compromised the results.
Mutharika narrowly won the May 21 general elections with 38.57 percent of the vote. But opposition parties are challenging the state electoral commission’s May 27 declaration of Mutharika as the victor despite complaints of irregularities including results sheets with sections blotted out or altered with correction fluid. An official count showed Chakwera lost by just 159 000 votes.
Protesters hit the streets of the administrative capital Lilongwe in large numbers chanting anti-Mutharika slogans and broke into a compound containing offices of the president and government departments and told civil servants to leave. Mutharika was not present in the complex at the time.
“People are demanding that Chakwera, who won the elections, must be sworn in as the president,” one of the protestors told AFP.
