The High Court in Blantyre has ordered the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) to conduct a rerun in Mangochi West Constituency saying elections held on May 21 in the area were not free and fair and the results are highly questionable.
High Court Judge Sylvester Kalembera delivered the ruling on Friday in the case where independent candidate Simeon Harrison was aggrieved with MEC for declaring Geoffrey Meleka Chiwondo winner.
The Malawi Electoral Commission said Chiwondo won with 4,527 votes against Harrison’s 4,518.
But Harrison petitioned the court saying he was surprised that counting and tabulation of results was suspended on May 21 till the next day due to suspicious conduct of a MEC officer.
He added that tally sheets used to determine the final results were tampered with using correction fluid.
In his ruling, Kalembera said the petitioner proved to the court that the election results were tampered with especially at Makunula polling centre where a presiding officer was replaced.
“The petitioner has demonstrated, established and proved to the required standard that due to the irregularities observed, the results ought to and were affected such that the parliamentary results declared and announced by the 1st respondent [MEC] do not reflect the will of the people and electorate who participated in that vote,” Kalembera said.
