By Edwin Mauluka

Three district councils have completed compiling results from all constituency tally centres under their jurisdiction, the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has confirmed.

MEC Chairperson Justice Anabel Mtalimanja said the officials are now in transit to the National Tally Centre in Lilongwe to deliver physical copies of the results. She withheld the names of the councils, citing security reasons.

“As we speak, they are in transit to the National Tally Centre,” Mtalimanja told reporters.

So far, results from 96 out of 229 constituencies have been fully captured and transmitted to their respective councils. Once received, the councils immediately begin processing and electronically forwarding the results to the National Tally Centre.

Mtalimanja added that all constituency tally centres continued receiving physical results from polling stations throughout the day.

“As of 9 a.m. today, September 18, retrieval of materials from all polling stations has been successfully completed in all 36 councils. This means we have achieved a 100 percent retrieval rate,” she said, adding that copies of result sheets were posted at polling stations for public viewing. She expressed confidence that all political parties and independent candidates should already have copies from their monitors.

In her Wednesday evening update, Mtalimanja reported that by close of business, 15,127 polling centres had delivered their results to constituency tally centres, out of a total of 15,148 nationwide, representing 99.86 percent coverage.