Chilima, Chakwera’s submissions insist that President Mutharika was not duly elected; Malawi election case

LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The President of United Transformation Movement (UTM) Dr Saulos Claus Chilima, and that of Malawi Congress Party (MCP), Dr Lazarus McCarthey Chakwera, have finally made their submissions to the Constitutional Court in Lilongwe as per the order of the same on December 6, 2019 when it was concluding hearing of the high profile presidential election results case.

According to the submissions, the first petitioner, Dr Saulos Claus Chilima, through his lawyers seek the Court to declare that Peter Mutharika, who is currently the President of Malawi, was not duly elected, the entire presidential election results be annulled.

The duo insists that a fresh presidential election must be conducted under the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections Act (PPEA) and that the first petitioner must be awarded the costs of the proceedings.

The submissions further indicate that Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) as a constitutionally instituted body, violated the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections Act ( PPEA ) in the course of administering the polls.

The submissions also urges the Court to fault MEC for fraud during the tripartite elections.

In particular, MEC approved altered results tally and duplicate sheets, approved results fake and Tippex sheets and the use of results tally sheets which were not signed by presiding officers.

Last week, the Constitutional Court slapped Saulos Claus Chilima with a fine of MK300, 000 as costs for delaying the submissions as per the order of the Court.

UTM and MCP are challenging the results of the May 21 polls to be nullified and subsequently fresh elections be conducted.

December 6, 2019 the Constitutional Court in Lilongwe completed hearing of the case.

The court resumes its final sessions on December 19 to make a verdict for the case.

Richard Kayenda

I hold a bachelor’s degree in languages obtained from Mzuzu University. Since 2016, I have been working for Maravi Post as a reporter of local news; particularly from the Northern Region of Malawi. My main news areas are politics, business, sports and many more. Besides reporting, I also write news analyses on current affairs just to share informed opinions on news that matter in Malawi. By now I have a five year practical experience in online news reporting and I look forward to growing more professionally while raising the bar of Maravi Post; in order to make it a household name, as we keep our readership informed, edutained and updated on a daily basis.