Constitutional court resumes hearing of election case

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The Constitutional Court has today resumed hearing the election case in which UTM leader Saulos Chilima and Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president Lazarus Chakwera are challenging results of the May 21 elections results.

Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) and President Peter Mutharika are respondents in the case.

In court this morning, Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale representing MEC questioned UTM second witness Mirriam Gwalidi on election result sheets from Chitipa Central more especially Meru School poling centre in Chitipa.

Kaphale asked the witness if party monitors and presiding officers signed result sheets.

At one point, Chilima’s lawyer Chikosa Silungwe objected to Kaphale’s line of questioning and asked the court to hear from both petitioners on how cross examination should be conducted.

Kaphale, however, said he felt he was being barred from asking questions.
He added that Gwalidi needed to be guided on how to answer questions saying she was answering questions that were not asked.

The second phase of the election case will run for 14 days, from today to 20th September.

During the first phase, Kaphale and Mutharika’s lawyers cross-examined Chilima and second witness Gwalidi.

Chilima wants the court to nullify the results of the elections because there was a plethora of irregularities which affected the polls.

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