Court adjourns elections case to Wednesday to rule on preliminaries

The elections case scheduling conference held at  Constitutional Court in Lilongwe on Friday has was adjourned to next week Wednesday when a ruling will be made on the preliminary objections which include that of governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to dismiss petitions submitted by UTM Party and Malawi Congress Party (MCP) in the matter.

President Peter Mutharika was sworn in for a second term in Malawi late last month, but opposition protesters are challenging the legitimacy of his recent re-elections, based on widespread allegations of vote-rigging.

DPP is arguing that the first petitioner in the case, Saulos Chilima’s petition be removed for being “irregular”.

Similarly, DPP is also arguing that the second petitioner, MCP President Lazarus Chakwera, his petition be removed for being incompetent and “embarrassing”.

Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital, has been rocked over the past two weeks by street protests organised by opposition  and another mass action is scheduled on June 20 organised by the civil society organisations that defends human rights led by Timothy Mtambo and Gift Trapemce.

At the court on Friday there were hundreds of opposition supporters who gathered and others turned violent against DPP officials.

Last Thursday, police used teargas to disperse a rally outside the headquarters of the opposition MCP when it’s leader Chakwera was meeting with the U.S. ambassador in Lilongwe.

Some of the tear gas also wafted into the nearby US Embassy.