Malawi delays controversial by-election after one killed

Malawi’s electoral commission has postponed indefinitely a legislative by-election originally set for 24 April due to political violence at the weekend which left one person dead, AFP reported on Tuesday. The commission said in a statement that it “condemns in the strongest terms the political violence which erupted in Blantyre rural east constituency”. It implored police to speed up investigations into violence between rival supporters of the country’s main political parties and to bring perpetrators to justice.

Violence erupted on Sunday when supporters of President Bakili Muluzi’s ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) allegedly disrupted a campaign rally which was to be addressed by Gwanda Chakuamba, leader of the opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP). A free-for-all ensued which resulted in the death of market vendor Duncan Kanjuchi, the report said.

The UDF claimed Kanjuchi was a member of the ruling party and that opposition supporters had beaten him to death. Chakuamba, however, claimed that Kanjuchi was mistakenly beaten by “young democrats” of the UDF who thought he was an opposition supporter. “We were terribly provoked,” Chakuamba was quoted as saying. Muluzi, meanwhile, said the violence was the work of the MCP, which he claimed had teamed up with the National Democratic Alliance pressure group to distrupt meetings by ruling party leaders. The parliamentary seat fell vacant last year following the death of a UDF legislator Iqbar Lambat. Six MCP supporters, including Levison Mlauzi, who was the MCP candidate for the by-election, had been arrested by Wednesday morning.