Former President Peter Mutharika has explained his decision not to file a legal challenge against the results of the 2020 elections which he claims were a farce and were characterized by massive rigging.
Speaking to a local radio station in an interview aired Sunday night, Mutharika said the 2020 presidential elections were worse than the nullified 2019 elections because his party’s monitors were chased from polling stations and there was rigging.
He, however, said that he did not go to court to challenge the results because he did not want another period of violent demonstrations similar to the 2019 post-election protests.
“We could have gone to court or may be to Malawi Electoral Commission but I thought, this country went through almost seven months of relentless demonstrations and violence.
“I did not want to start another state of demonstrations, and violence and suspense in the interest of the country. During the eleven months (after the 2019 elections), the country lost about K650 billion in terms of destruction of property and slowed business.
“I did not want the country to go through another period of demonstrations, it’s not worth it. I put the country ahead of this, and therefore we decided to move on,” said Mutharika.
The former Malawi leader also said that he was not surprised when President Lazarus Chakwera was declared winner of the 2020 elections because he knew that the whole thing had been contrived.
According to Mutharika, there was a plot starting from the nullification of the 2019 election in which he was declared winner, to the electoral setup where elections were held without necessary constitutional amendments being made.
“We did not lose the election really, we lost the government,” said Mutharika.
