LILONGWE, Malawi 

Police in Malawi arrested eight election officials for allegedly attempting to manipulate election results as the vote count is underway following last Tuesday’s elections in the Southeast African nation.

In a statement, police spokesperson Peter Kalaya said that the eight election officials include data clerks and a presiding officer who were arrested on Saturday morning in Nkhoma Constituency in the rural areas of the capital, Lilongwe.

“So far, we have instituted investigations to establish the motive and for whose benefit this has been done. We are therefore calling the citizenry to remain calm as we are waiting for the official results of the elections,” said Kalaya.

On Tuesday, 7 million eligible Malawians went to the polls to elect a new president, members of parliament and councilors to govern the country in the next five years.

However, since then, the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has yet to release any official partial results, drawing criticism from key election stakeholders who are now pressuring the commission to make the results public.

Malawi Election officials have attributed the delay to network glitches. But said “all is underway to rectify the challenges.”

Incumbent President Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) is seeking reelection, while former President Arthur Peter Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is his main rival in the hotly contested poll.