It appears that Malawi is heading back to the polls following a recent judgment by the country’s High Court, nullifying the disputed May 2019 presidential elections that seem to have caused further confrontations between leading and opposition parties, as well as widespread unrest within the country.
Ruling Cites Irregularities in Vote Tallying
Following a globally observed deliberation that began in June 2019, the Malawian Federal High Court in the country’s capital, Lilongwe, nullified the election on the following grounds: the court faulted the Malawian Electoral Commission (MEC), stating that the body failed to properly adhere to the statutory requirements on handling tally sheets citing the Tipp-Ex allegations; failing to address petitions that were made before the announcement of results; delegating statutory powers belonging to the Electoral Commissioners to the Chief Elections Officer.
However, one important dismissal point that stood out and could affect elections in the country in coming years, was the court’s decision to question the country’s “first-past-the-post” system of selecting winners, calling on Parliament to amend the Parliamentary and Presidential Act to explicitly require that a candidate must have at least 50 per cent of the total votes tallied to be declared winner.
A statement from the 10-hour ruling went thus: “The position of this court is that the widespread use of Tippex greatly undermined the integrity of the elections so much that applying the qualitative approach, the argument by the second respondent (Malawi Electoral Commission) that the valid vote count was not affected and that no monitor came forward to raise a complaint does not matter and this argument is thrown out.”
The 5-man panel of the High Court in its historic ruling – Malawi is only the second African country to call for a rerun after Kenya – ordered a fresh presidential election to be held within 150 days.
Initial Results
Seven candidates initially participated in the May 21 elections with the MEC declaring incumbent President Peter Mutharika as the winner of the elections with 38 per cent of the vote, while Malawi Congress Party’s Lazarus Chakwera garnered 35 per cent. The former ally to Mutharika, Saulos Chilima of the United Transformation Movement (UTM), won 20 per cent and the others shared the remaining percentage of the votes.
What Happens Next
Malawi has 5 months to organize a free and fair election for millions of voters while managing the ongoing crisis that followed the previous polls and has resulted in several casualties. However, President Mutharika still has the choice of taking up the case with the Malawian Supreme Court of Appeal.
