Observations by Cornelius Wa Mapira
Monday 14 October 2019
On Lazarus Chakwera’s allegation that there were some missing votes for some candidates, his witness Lackson Chimangeni failed to locate any candidate valid votes for any polling station that had been challenged.
On their list of 215 polling stations where they claimed there were questionable votes, each one of the listed tallies centre data had an error.
On Lazarus Chakwera’s allegation that there were extra votes added to candidates at some polling stations, his witness failed to pinpoint any single polling station where any candidate had extra votes added to his count.
On Chakwera allegation that some tally sheets had been forged on the basis of the order of signatures on tally sheets, his witness conceded that where a form has no designated pre-printed slots for monitor signatures and there are more than two people signing, the signature can appear in any order on the forms.
On Chakwera’s allegation that there were extra ballots at some polling stations in that the number of ballots issued were exceeded by the valid votes, null and void votes, cancelled and spoilt ballots and unused ballots, his witness he failed to explain it
On Chakwera’s allegation of missing ballots — that valid votes, unused ballots, cancelled ballots, null and void votes and valid votes were fewer than total ballots received, his witness failed to explain it in court.
On Chakwera’s allegation that the numbers on the forms from their monitors were different from MEC’s, his witness observed that the candidate votes on the forms from party monitors were the same as those MEC entered into the system.
On Chakwera’s allegation that there was low voter turnout in some centres and high voter turnout in others, his witness could not explain the source of his information
Lazarus Chakwera ordered to pay court Costs
Malawi Congress Party (MCP) outgoing president Lazarus Chakwera and Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) have been ordered by the Constitutional Court hearing the elections case to pay costs for inconveniencing other parties.
The five-judge panel led by Justice Healy Potani ordered Chakwera – the second petitioner – to pay K900 000 which will be shared K300 000 each to President Peter Mutharika, who is the first respondent, MEC and UTM Party president Saulos Chilima, who is first petitioner.
Chakwera has been whipped for failing to submit supplementary sworn statement last Friday as ordered by the court, a move seen as aimed at delaying court proceedings contrary to resolutions that no party should file any more applications in the interest of expediting the case.
Meantime today judge Tembo admonished Lackson Chimangeni to listen and answer Yes and NO questions to stop wasting the courts time
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are not necessarily the views of the Publisher or the Editor of Maravi Post
How does the missing botes identified break Chakwera’s case?
Kulemba kwa cadet uku, not a journalist