The UTM has not asked to postpone Malawi’s May 21 elections

In one Facebook post, archived here, the Malawi Institute of Journalism’s radio station posted the false press statement captioned: “UTM Party wants elections postponed??”

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Screenshot taken on May 20, 2019 of a Facebook post sharing the alleged UTM letter to the MEC

The alleged letter is addressed to the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) and claims “strong allegations of rigging” have led the party to request a postponement of the election. It is supposedly signed by the party’s publicity secretary Joseph Malunga.

But UTM Secretary General Patricia Kaliati denied UTM had issued the statement calling for the postponement of the elections.

"The statement did not come from us,” Kaliati told AFP -- a post retweeted by the official UTM account also reiterates this.

This is to notify the General Public that the Statement purportedly signed by Dr Chidanti Malunga is Fake. The Directorate of Publicity has not issued any Statement after Dr Saulosi Klaus Chilima spoke early morning today.

UTM has not asked MEC to postpone The Tuesday Elections. pic.twitter.com/Ko1Bu8zXkV

— Malawi Elections 2019?? (@Malawi2014) May 19, 2019

The false post appeared after an actual press briefing by vice president Saulos Chilima on May 19, where he highlighted a few concerns of alleged rigging ahead of elections in the country this week.

His concerns included the presence of a Zimbabwean national helping the ruling party to rig elections, the lack of police supervision in a couple of voting areas, near shootouts in other areas and allegations of an organised effort to seed pre-marked ballots using police impersonators. 

Chilima said the party would send a letter to the MEC ahead of voting day to address the concerns but mentioned nothing of a request to postpone the elections as claimed.

The MEC chair Jane Ansah was quoted in a series of posts on the Malawi government Facebook page which said the UTM claims were baseless and meant to discourage voters from going to the polls.

Chilima was Mutharika's running mate in 2014 and became vice-president -- but he then fell out with his boss.

Chilima quit the ruling party last year and set up the UTM to contest the election.

Malawi’s President Peter Mutharika is aiming for a second and final term when Malawi takes to the polls on May 21 -- read this AFP report for more.