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Malawi opposition call on party leader to quit
24 May 2009 11:26:04 GMT
 Source: Reuters
LILONGWE, May 24 (Reuters) - The leader of the main opposition Malawi Congress Party John Tembo on Sunday defied calls from senior members to quit as leader and drop his planned court challenge to election results he says were rigged.

President Bingu wa Mutharika was sworn in for a second term on Friday after winning re-election on a platform of economic growth and food for the poor, but Tembo accused him of rigging the poll and said he would go to court.

The Electoral Commission said wa Mutharika won 2.7 million votes to Tembo's 1.2 million, in a ballot widely viewed as a test of political stability in the southern African country.

Some of Tembo's party allies said he had no basis for a court challenge.

"The only sensible thing for Tembo to do is to step down as party president, concede defeat and withdraw his intentions to go to court because there is no basis," party spokesman Ishmael Chafukira, long considered Tembo's righthand man, told Reuters.

Another senior member of the party's politburo said Tembo should follow the example of his opposition alliance partner Bakili Muluzi, who congratulated wa Mutharika hours before official results were announced.

"We have been in opposition for 15 years under his leadership ... he has failed us and it's time he left the scene," said George Zulu.

Ten members of the party's national governing council have signed a petition against Tembo, Chafukira said.

But Tembo remained defiant, saying those who wanted him out of the party should openly challenge him for the leadership position.

"I will not drop the case because I believe the election was rigged," he told Reuters.

The Malawi Electoral Commission said late on Saturday that after wa Mutharika's Democratic Progressive Party won 114 seats in the 193-strong parliament.

Tembo's party won 25 seats while its alliance partner the United Democratic Front garnered 17 and independent candidates collectively won 26 seats. The remaining seats are still being verified. (Reporting by Mabvuto Banda; editing by Stella Mapenzauswa and Andrew Roche)


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