Bendolo insist MEC figures falsified: Lawyer Mbeta says testimony premised on assumptions

Malawi Congress Party president Lazarus Chakwera fourth witness Anthony Bendulo in the petition case to nullify presidential elections results for the May 21 Tripartite Elections has  maintained that figures announced by Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) which declared President  Peter Mutharika winner were falsified.

Bendulo said during cross e-examination with lawyer Frank Mbeta representing President Mutharika, the first respondent, that while arithmetic mistakes could have been unavoidable, some of the alterations on secondary data sheets suggested a clear attempt to alter the election results.

He had been narrating how the elections were manipulated through use of Tippex, other manual alterations and duplicate or fake result sheets.

The fourth witness for Chakwera, the second petitioner, worked as an information technology analyst for MCP during the May elections, said “use of duplicates is contrary to procedure as MEC said they would use original document.”

Bendulo made illustrations as to how a vote can be systematically rigged following some pattern.

Apart from Bendulo, other witnesses who have testified in the case have also testified against use of duplicates in relations to the procedure, as one of the irregularities.

In an interview, Mbeta accused Bendulo of using imagination in his evidence making assumptions in a number of rigging claims while the case is about actual votes.

Mbeta said in his cross-examination he focused on allegations about irregularities cited by Bendulo in his analytical evidence as he believed is premised on assumptions.

Chakwera and UTM Party president Saulos Chilima (first petitioner) want the presidential elections results nullified and the Constitutional Court to order a re-run.