Malawi: Court annuls 2019 presidential elections, orders new vote

The constitutional court in Malawi has annulled the 2019 presidential elections over regularities.

Court ordered for fresh elections in 150 days.

Last year’s election in Malawi saw the incumbent President Peter Mutharika re-elected into office for his second term with a narrow 38.6%.

Opposition candidates Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and Saulos Chilima who finished second and third respectively petitioned court claiming that the election was full of irregularities.

Among the irregularities cited, the petitioners argued that the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) had used a correction fluid on some of tge tallying forms that were sent from polling stations.

They also argued that in some polling stations, officials had sent in the wrong copies of the results sheet to the main tallying center, which flawed the election process.

MEC in its defense said that they only used the correction fluid to alter the procedural information that had been incorrectly entered but not to change results.

A five judge panel was constituted and while sitting in Lilongwe on Monday evening, the claim was upheld a 500 paged judgement.

Court also ruled that Mutharika would still hold the presidential office until a new election is held.

Several opposition supporters in Malawi have since took to the streets to celebrate the judgment. Experts also hailed the judgement as a step forward for democracy.

Additional reporting by BBC..

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