The nullification of the May 21 2019 parliamentary election results for Mangochi North-East has brought joy to the candidates who participated in the election, saying the re-run which Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) will organise gives them an opportunity to compete fairly.
On Monday, 8th June 2020, the High Court of Malawi nullified results of the elections for the constituency in which MEC declared Idi Kalosi of United Democratic Front (UDF) as a winner after amassing 8980 votes.
Independent candidate, Martin Chikati Sekati, who is also known as Martin Nyengo came second with 7053 votes.
However, the election, according to Sekati, was marred by a plethora of irregularities, hence, he petitioned the court over this in which High Court Judge, Justice Joseph Chigona ruled in his favour.
In an interview after making the ruling, one of the candidates, Overton Imedi (in the picture), who contested in the ticket of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and netted over 5000 votes praised the court for ordering a re-run, saying it will accord them chance to once again fight for the hot seat.
“There were two candidates in the area that were parading as DPP despite the other one (Yusuf Mwechumu) being independent. This limited my chance of making it to parliament as we divided supporters,” he explained.
“Now that there will be another chance very soon which will be given to us; I take this as a golden opportunity to participate in the election and I am optimistic to win it,” added Imedi.
His counterpart, Martin Sekati, who is a petitioner of the case was happy that the court declared Mangochi North-East seat vacant.
“I am certain that come the fresh by-election I am going to win just like what I have done by winning the court case,” he boasted.
Asked if he will appeal, Kalosi said he accepted the ruling and that he will not appeal but challenged that he will retain his seat because he is development conscious, hence his constituents cannot shrug him off.
