A court injunction has rought the Malawi Congress Party’s (MCP) primary elections in Dzalanyama Constituency to an abrupt halt. Godfrey Robert Chisoni, an aspiring parliamentary candidate, had approached the court to challenge the party’s decision to hold fresh elections despite his apparent win in the April 28 primaries.
MCP held primary elections in Dzalanyama Constituency on April 28, 2025, which were marred by attempts to incite violence towards the end, prompting police intervention and the securing of ballot boxes.
Later, vote counting took place at a safe location, with results showing Chisoni in the lead with 416 votes, followed by Morris Chikafa with 283 votes, Filipo Chinkhondo with 270 votes, Gregory Mike Madeya with 25 votes, Alick Njira with 16 votes, Jordawe Khuzeni with 7 votes and Kelvin Kapenda with 5 votes, whereas 7 votes were null and void.
Following this, MCP scheduled fresh primary elections for Thursday, May 15, 2025. However, Chisoni’s legal team obtained the injunction, citing concerns over the legitimacy of the process.
In a sworn statement, Chisoni said that by established practice on the conduct of primary elections of the party, he was supposed to be declared the winner of the election immediately after the announcement of the provisional results. However, this has not been done.
“I was surprised that until the 7th of May 2025, the results had not been officially announced, and we got no communication whatsoever from the 2nd Defendant,” stated Chisoni. “The elections having already been conducted, I find no basis for the elections to be held again unless for a rational and logical basis which has not been furnished to me as an affected individual.”
Following the application, Justice Pemba granted the injunction, restraining the party from conducting fresh primary elections aimed at identifying a parliamentary candidate for the Dedza Dzalanyama Constituency until the conclusion of this matter or a further order of the Court.
The Court further directed that the Claimant should file the With Notice Application within 7 days from the date of the order.
