The Supreme Court of Appeal in Malawi has upheld the ruling made by Constitutional Court that President Peter Mutharika was not duly elected in the 2019 elections and that fresh presidential polls should be held.
The court made this determination on Friday in Lilongwe in its judgement on the appeal made by President Peter Mutharika and Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) who were challenging the Constitutional Court ruling which nullified 21 May, 2019 presidential elections.
On February 3 this year, the panel of five Judges ordered for the fresh presidential polls after it proved that last year’s May 21 polls had several irregularities as per petitions and evidences which were submitted by the Vice President Saulos Chilima and Malawi Congress Party President Lazarus Chakwera who were the first and second petitioners in the case respectively.
In its historic judgment on Friday, the country’s highest court dismissed Mutharika’s and MEC’s appeals in their entirety.
In the ruling, the Supreme Court described irregularities in the last year’s elections as not only serious but also troubling saying they affected the outcome of the presidential elections.
The court then said that President Mutharika was not duly elected in last year’s disputed polls and that status quo of him as the President and Chilima as the vice president should continue up to period when the elections are held.
“We find that the order by the Court below that fresh elections for the office of the president be conducted in accordance with the Parliamentary and Presidential Elections Act to be proper and we uphold it,” the court said.
The Supreme Court also upheld the lower court’s decision for the electoral commission to hold fresh presidential election within 150 days from the February 3 ruling.
In its consequential orders regarding the elections, the court ordered MEC to use the voters’ rolls which was used in last year’s election and that there should not be any registration of new voters since the new ones were not wronged.
The panel of seven supreme court Judges led by the Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda also ordered that only presidential candidates who competed in last year’s polls are eligible to stand in this year’s polls and there should be no new face on the ballot.
The fresh presidential elections will be held on July 2 this year.
