As I follow the ongoing debate about the September 16 general elections in the country, I am struck by the opposition parties,mainly Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) persistent calls for a Smartmatic System audit.
In my opinion, this demand is nothing more than a desperate attempt to cling to power and undermine the legitimacy of the electoral process.
The opposition’s cries for a Smartmatic System audit are baseless and lack concrete evidence to support their claims of electoral irregularities.
For instance,on several occasions, DPP’s National Organizing Secretary Sameer Suleman has been claiming that the electronic voting system was tampered with, but he fails to provide any credible proof to back up this assertion.
This lack of evidence raises questions about the party’s motivations and whether their demands are driven by a genuine desire for electoral reform or simply a desire to cast doubt on the outcome of the election.
One of the most egregious examples of the DPP’s lack of credibility on this issue is their failure to raise concerns about the electoral process during the actual voting period.
If the party had genuine concerns about the electronic voting system, why did they not raise them at the time? Instead, they are now trying to retroactively cast doubt on the outcome of the election.
This behavior is not only unbecoming but also undermines the integrity of the electoral process.
It is indeed true that when you want to sit for an examination but you are not ready for it, you create scapegoats. You line up all manner of excuses, blaming anything for your dreaded failure. You blame illness that never was. Or you blame teachers for allegedly not covering the whole syllabus. The fact of the matter is that you are preparing the ground to justify your imminent failure. You are scapegoating. And this is what the opposition are doing by demanding that the MEC should abandon use of the Smartmatic machines in the upcoming elections.
Scapegoating is not an invention of the opposition. The practice dates back to the biblical times when a goat was symbolically burdened with the sins of the community and released into the wilderness (Leviticus 16:8—10). But the opposition,mainly the corrupt DPP have embraced it hook, line and sinker as they inch towards the elections.
Their objection against the use of Elections Management Devices (EMDs) for transmitting results in the forthcoming elections is their Plan B. The aim is to displace blame and reduce guilt in the event that the polls do not go their way. They are misdirecting their frustration and inefficiencies on MEC.
Patriotic and well-meaning Malawians should be worried about this self-serving behaviour which is toxic, to say the least. This scapegoating is misinformation and disinformation that can heighten violence, both pre- and post-elections. The opposition are preparing their supporters to rise up in arms against MEC and everybody who thinks the electoral body is on the right track in the management of the electoral process so far. This is a dangerous trajectory and should be stopped by whatever it takes.
It is pity that even the DPP presidential candidate Peter Mutharika is propagating raw and unbridled propaganda about how MEC procured Smartmatic. What he said about Smartmatic System at his beach house in Mangochi on May 13 2025 are blue lies. Long and short, he said DPP commissioners in MEC rejected Smartmatic. Blue lies.
Smartmatic was procured in November 2023 when the MEC chair was Justice Dr Chifundo Kachale. Kachale was appointed by Mutharika in 2020 replacing Dr Jane Ansah who was removed by the courts for incompetence. So to the contrary, the commission that procured Smartmatic Machines had four commissioners nominated by DPP against MCP’s three commissioners. The incumbent MEC chair, Justice Annabel Mtalimanja, was only appointed on June 20 2024, seven months later. From the foregoing we can see that Smartmatic had the full blessings of commissioners who were in MEC on a DPP ticket.
I have one rejoinder for the former Mec chair Justice Kachale. Although he was a DPP nominee and appointed by Mutharika he was impartial and I rate him as one of the best chairs that MEC has ever had. He left at the expiry of his contract.
The incumbent MEC chair, Justice Mtalimanja adequately addressed the process of how Smartmatic System was procured and how MEC transitioned to the new electoral system in a press statement issued on October 16 2024. The process started in 2021 with learning visits by commissioners and stakeholders including opposition members to South Africa and Zambia. Smartmatic International of the Netherlands was successful from a team of four bidders after the others withdrew or failed to place the bid documents in the tender box by the closing date and time. The firm was confirmed as having met the requirements on November 25 2023.
On December 20 2023, Smartmatic conducted demonstrations and simulations of the electoral process to the IPDC, MEC commissioners and political parties’ representatives through the Centre for Multiparty Democracy. This shows that all stakeholders including political parties had adequate time to do their due diligence and if not satisfied reject the technology as far back as November 2023.
In the October 16 2024 press statement Mtalimanja also adequately addressed the issue of Smartmatic’s integrity following claims that the firm had faced various allegations of election interference in countries such as Venezuela, the Philippines, and Kenya. She, however, said after a thorough examination, these claims had been found to lack merit, with no substantiated evidence to support them.
So, the opposition’s rejection of Smartmatic System now is not only irrational and hypocritical but also borders on madness.
And by the way, opposition leaders seem oblivious of the implications of what they are demanding. Abandoning the technology now would mean postponing the elections for God-knows how long. It would mean amending the electoral law to provide another voting day. It would also mean that the cash-strapped MEC would have to raise more billions of kwacha.
Opposition parties wasted precious time from October to December last year when instead of mobilising their supporters to register as voters en mass, they were busy rallying them to go to the streets and demonstrate against the appointment of Mtalimanja and the MEC chief executive officer Andrew Mpesi. They realised their folly too late. Scapegoating is nothing but lying to oneself and others. But as someone said lies have short legs.
