LILONGWE: Malawi‘s Supreme Court on Wednesday is to start listening to an attraction by President Peter Mutharika towards the re-run of an wherein he was returned to workplace final 12 months.
The Constitutional Court in February annulled the outcomes of the May 2019 ballot and ordered a re-run, citing “grave” and “widespread” irregularities together with the usage of correction fluid on tally sheets.
Mutharika appealed towards the landmark ruling, accusing the courtroom of bias towards him.
Two weeks of hearings will start Wednesday in Lilongwe, judiciary spokeswoman Agnes Patemba advised AFP.
In his attraction papers, Mutharika mentioned the judges had “erred in law” and requested the Supreme Court to reverse the judgement.
The President described the ruling as “a serious miscarriage of justice and an attack on the foundations of the country’s democracy”.
A brand new election has been set for July 2, though it may very well be delayed by the attraction and the coronavirus outbreak within the southern African nation.
The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) additionally appealed the Constitutional Court ruling on related grounds.
MEC chairwoman Jane Ansah mentioned the courtroom had overstepped its powers by ordering parliament to amend electoral legal guidelines forward of a brand new vote.
Mutharika has refused to present his assent to the proposed amendments, notably one which requires a greater than 50 per cent majority to safe a win.
That threshold is a significant sticking level for the incumbent, who had been declared winner with simply 35.eight per cent of the vote.
Runner-up Lazarus Chakwera, the chief of the principle opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP), misplaced by simply 159,000 votes.
The MCP has since partnered with the United Transformation Movement (UTM) to maximise their possibilities of unseating the President.
UTM chief and former Vice President Saulos Chilima got here third with 20 per cent of the votes.
It is the primary time a presidential election has been challenged on authorized grounds in Malawi since independence from Britain in 1964.
The courtroom ordered a recent election inside 150 days, in addition to an investigation into the conduct of the electoral fee.
Both Mutharika and the MEC have made varied makes an attempt to delay the method. Ansah claims that organising an election would require extra time and has recommended October 28 as the brand new polling date.
Meanwhile, Malawi’s Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda on Monday turned down two South African lawyers employed by the MEC for the attraction case.
Nyirenda argued that the attorneys wouldn’t have been bodily current in courtroom, as they had been unable to journey to Malawi due to coronavirus journey bans.
The hiring of the South African attorneys – who had been set to cost 788,000 rand (round $43,000) for his or her companies – had brought about uproar amongst Malawian attorneys and opposition events.
The Malawi regulation society blasted the charges as “exorbitant” and questioned the rationale for selecting international over native attorneys.
The Constitutional Court in February annulled the outcomes of the May 2019 ballot and ordered a re-run, citing “grave” and “widespread” irregularities together with the usage of correction fluid on tally sheets.
Mutharika appealed towards the landmark ruling, accusing the courtroom of bias towards him.
Two weeks of hearings will start Wednesday in Lilongwe, judiciary spokeswoman Agnes Patemba advised AFP.
In his attraction papers, Mutharika mentioned the judges had “erred in law” and requested the Supreme Court to reverse the judgement.
The President described the ruling as “a serious miscarriage of justice and an attack on the foundations of the country’s democracy”.
A brand new election has been set for July 2, though it may very well be delayed by the attraction and the coronavirus outbreak within the southern African nation.
The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) additionally appealed the Constitutional Court ruling on related grounds.
MEC chairwoman Jane Ansah mentioned the courtroom had overstepped its powers by ordering parliament to amend electoral legal guidelines forward of a brand new vote.
Mutharika has refused to present his assent to the proposed amendments, notably one which requires a greater than 50 per cent majority to safe a win.
That threshold is a significant sticking level for the incumbent, who had been declared winner with simply 35.eight per cent of the vote.
Runner-up Lazarus Chakwera, the chief of the principle opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP), misplaced by simply 159,000 votes.
The MCP has since partnered with the United Transformation Movement (UTM) to maximise their possibilities of unseating the President.
UTM chief and former Vice President Saulos Chilima got here third with 20 per cent of the votes.
It is the primary time a presidential election has been challenged on authorized grounds in Malawi since independence from Britain in 1964.
The courtroom ordered a recent election inside 150 days, in addition to an investigation into the conduct of the electoral fee.
Both Mutharika and the MEC have made varied makes an attempt to delay the method. Ansah claims that organising an election would require extra time and has recommended October 28 as the brand new polling date.
Meanwhile, Malawi’s Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda on Monday turned down two South African lawyers employed by the MEC for the attraction case.
Nyirenda argued that the attorneys wouldn’t have been bodily current in courtroom, as they had been unable to journey to Malawi due to coronavirus journey bans.
The hiring of the South African attorneys – who had been set to cost 788,000 rand (round $43,000) for his or her companies – had brought about uproar amongst Malawian attorneys and opposition events.
The Malawi regulation society blasted the charges as “exorbitant” and questioned the rationale for selecting international over native attorneys.
