Malawi President Bakili Muluzi has accepted a narrow defeat he suffered when parliament rejected the controversial bill that was designed to scrap presidential term limits in the country.
“It was a give and take process. I hold no grudges nor vengeance against the people who spoke against or made negative remarks on me. I will hold nobody accountable,” Muluzi said in a prepared 10 minutes speech on state radio, in his first reaction to parliament’s decision.
Muluzi’s party needed just three votes to secure 128 ballots needed to make a two-thirds majority that could amend the constitution to allow him to stand for a third five-year term in 2004.
Some 125 legislators voted in favour of changing the constitution, while 59 were against and five abstained.
Muluzi, who virtually banned public debate on the controversial issue in the run-up to the parliamentary vote, urged Malawians to “forgive each other and reconcile.”
“Democracy calls for tolerance of different views. Now that the debate has been determined, the tension should melt away to pave way for reconciliation,” Muluzi added.
Muluzi came under heavy local and international pressure to hold a free and open debate on the amendment of the bill.
President Muluzi’s second term ends in 2004 and with his ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) party holding only 95 seats in parliament, he required the support of other groupings to garner the requisite two-thirds majority for the constitutional change. – AFP