Soldiers have been deployed in
Malawi's commercial capital Blantyre after
voters, angered by delays and mishaps at
polling stations in the hotly
contested presidential election, torched voting
materials and blocked roads.
Polling stations had opened as much as 10
hours late on Tuesday, sparking anger
and speculation about the fairness of the vote.
Some polling stations did not have enough
ballot papers and ink.
"We come here at 4 in the morning to vote.
Up to 9am there is no voting. There is no ink
to vote," a voter told Al Jazeera.
At another polling station in Blantyre, a
crowd torched election materials when they
arrived hours late and in other constituencies
they blocked roads with rocks before
the military arrived to back up police, Reuters
news agency reported.
In the city centre angry youths staged an
impromptu mini-protest chanting anti-
government slogans.
Voting extended
Voting was extended for several hours in some
locations, and the electoral commission said
voting would continue on Wednesday at polling
stations where balloting was disrupted.
Election chief Maxon Mbendera acknowledged
an "embarrassing situation" with the
organisational hiccups.
"Defence Force personnel will deploy to
strengthen the presence and security already
being provided by the Malawi Police Service,"
the AFP news agency quoted him as saying.
Thirteen polling stations, far less than one
percent of the more than 4,000 voting centres
around the country, "where polling papers
were destroyed or there were serious disruptions of the polling
process" will re-open on Wednesday, he said.
Some challengers of incumbent President Joyce
Banda, southern Africa's first female head of
state, had already cried foul in the election
run-up, saying they had unearthed plots to
skew the ballot.
Opinion polls indicate the presidential poll is
too close to call, but many analysts
rank People's Party leader Banda as favourite
because of her popularity in rural areas where
she has been rolling out development projects
and farm subsidies.
After casting her ballot in the southern village
of Malemia, Banda urged all sides to keep
calm.
"I'm thankful that the campaign period was
peaceful and am urging all Malawians to vote
peacefully today without any incident or loss
of life," she told reporters.
Corruption scandal
Banda came to power in the landlocked,
impoverished nation two years ago after the
death of her predecessor, Bingu wa Mutharika.
She initially enjoyed huge goodwill from the
many who disliked Mutharika's autocratic
style, and won the backing of foreign donors
and the International Monetary Fund when she
pushed through austerity measures, including a
sharp devaluation of the kwacha, to stabilise
the farming-dependent economy.
