Election petitions overwhelm Malawi High Court

A record 202 election petitions have been filed to the High Court of Malawi, a record number since 1994 according to court officials.

High Court registrar Agnes Patemba has confirmed that there are two petitions for the presidential election, up from one in 2014.

The petitions have been filed by main opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president Lazarus Chakwera and UTM leader Saulos Chilima separately.

The two part leaders feel victory was robbed from them as the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) manipulated the vote in favour of president Peter Mutharika.

Both MEC and DPP deny the allegation.

Patemba said there are 96 election petitions for the parliamentary election whilst whilst four are for the local government elections.

MEC declared Mutharika winner of the presidential race with 1 940 709 votes or 38.57 percent. The electoral body said MCP’s Chakwera was on second position with 1 781 740 votes, representing 35.41 percent of the vote and Chilima, who debuted on the presidential ballot on UTM Party ticket after falling out with Mutharika last June, finished third with 1 018 369 votes or 20.24 percent.