The Supreme Court of Appeal in Blantyre has nullified results of 2019 Parliamentary elections for Nkhata Bay Central Constituency where Vuwa Kaunda was declared winner.
The court has delivered its ruling today after People’s Party politician Raphael Mhone appealed against a Mzuzu High Court judgement that upheld Kaunda’s victory in the elections.
Today’s ruling means the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) is supposed to hold by-elections in the constituency.
In 2019, MEC declared Kaunda of the Democratic Progressive Party as winner of the elections with 6,418 votes against close Mhone’s 6,412.
Mhone challenged Vuwa’s election arguing that there were irregularities that affected the outcome.
However, High Court Judge Thomson Ligowe in 2019 threw away the petition by Mhone saying there was no sufficient evidence that monitors were barred from signing result sheets or that votes in some centres were changed in Kaunda’s favour.
The High Court ruling forced Mhone to take the issue to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Since the 2019 Parliamentary Elections were held, courts have nullified results from several constituencies. These include Mangochi North East, Mangochi West, Nsanje North, Chikwawa East and Nsanje Central.
