The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has filed an appeal asking the Supreme Court to reverse the Constitutional Court’s ruling in the Malawi election case saying the five-judge panel erred in law .
On Friday, the five-judge panel at the Constitutional Court threw out President Peter Mutharika’s application to dismiss petitions by Dr. Lazarus Chakwera (MCP) and Dr. Saulos Klaus Chilima (UTM) who are challenging the May 21 presidential election results
The electoral body and Mutharika are second and first respondents respectively in the petitions.
In its Notice of Appeal filed today, MEC says it is not satisfied with the court’s decision and it wants the Supreme Court to reverse the lower court’s ruling and dismiss the Malawi election case.
Among other issues, the MEC lawyers argue that the judges erred in law by ruling that the regularity of filing a sworn statement verifying a petition out of time and that of replacing court documents without permission of the courts and thus falsifying the court record is curable.
According to the MEC lawyers, the Constitutional Court through its ruling ratified the fraudulent filing of Chakwera’s election petition and erred by ruling that Chilima’s petition is not a claim hence did not need a sworn statement.
The MEC lawyers want the Supreme Court of Appeal to reverse the lower court’s decision.
The also wants the higher court to strike out Chilima’s petition for being filed without a sworn statement and Chakwera’s petition for being filed fraudulently and out of time.
