Announce results first: Malawi High Court

Malawi’s main opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party, yesterday obtained a court injunction ordering the electoral commission to announce the results of last week’s general election before any recount. High Court Judge Healey Potani ruled that the Malawi Electoral Commission did not have powers to order a recount before initial counting was done.

Nyasa Times said Justice Potani ruled that only the court could call for a recount after satisfying itself with the grounds or complaints from individuals or parties. Justice Potani asked MEC to proceed with counting and tallying the votes.

The DPP, which is leading in last Tuesday’s poll, opposed the MEC plan to do a recount before announcing the initial results.
Kalekeni Kaphale, the lawyer representing the DPP, said the injunction meant MEC should announce results in eight days.

President Joyce Banda alleges widespread irregularities in the elections and ordered the electoral commission to stop the vote count. She called for new elections within 90 days in which she would not contest the presidency.

The Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation supported a recount, but the electoral commission, the Law Society of Malawi and the DPP blocked this move.

The court said only MEC could make such a decision and that a candidate could not nullify the vote.
“Nothing in the constitution gives the president powers to cancel an election. This is clearly illegal, unconstitutional and not acceptable,” DPP presidential candidate Mr Peter Mutharika said.

At least 30 percent of votes have been counted, showing President Banda – leader of the People’s Party – trailing behind two other candidates.
The front-runner was DPP’s Professor Peter Mutharika, brother to the late Dr Bingu wa Mutharika, followed by Lazarus Chakwera, an evangelical pastor from the Malawi Congress Party.

Malawi’s polls were chaotic, with people voting two days after election day. In the commercial capital, Blantyre, angry voters set a polling station alight.

Banda rose from the vice presidency to the presidency after Bingu wa Mutharika’s sudden death in 2012. She won applause from the West for her austerity policies, but her rule was later tainted by a massive corruption scandal, which led to donors slashing aid that constituted 40 percent of Malawi’s budget. — Sapa-dpa-Nyasa Times/HR.