The High Court sitting as a Constitutional Court in Lilongwe on Thursday gave a partial victory to the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) application seeking extension to file sworn affidavits in the presidential election nullification petition case on grounds that unruly supporters of petitioners interfered with its exercise.
The court refused the 14-day extension but granted an extension of five days to collect information from its presiding officers.
Reading the ruling, Justice Dingiswayo Madise, said considering that electoral bodybuilding lawyers were disrupted when collecting the information, it would be proper to give them the additional five days including weekends.
The electoral body had also asked the five-judge Constitutional Court panel for an order barring the petitioners or their agents from interfering with the recording of sworn statements of witnesses.
In their determination, the judges allowed the extension which would affect the commencement date of the case.
The court has also ordered Malawi Congress Party (MCP) President Lazarus Chakwera, to publicly condemn a statement made by the party’s publicity secretary, Maurice Munthali, calling on MEC presiding officers not to grant MEC the required information.
The Constitutional Court had earlier set July 29 set to start hearing a petition filed by UTM Party president Saulos Chilima and Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president Lazarus Chakwera seeking nullification of the presidential election results over alleged irregularities, especially in the result management system.
President Peter Mutharika, by virtue of being the declared winner, is the first respondent while MEC is the second respondent.