High Court petitioned to declare all MPs deemed as not duly elected
Frank Kuyokwa and 183 others have taken Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) to the High Court demanding all Members of Parliament elected during the May 2019 tripartite elections be deemed not to have been duly elected.
The application also demands that all seats of the legislators in the Malawi Parliament be declared vacant and that the fresh presidential elections ordered to be conducted by the High Court of Malawi sitting as a Constitutional Court be conducted concurrently with elections for the MPs.
The High Court application done on April 2 2020, says “MEC should be declared to have grossly managed the May 2019 tripartite elections such that any election results declared by MEC be deemed to have been null and void ab initio”.
The petitioners also ask the High Court “that the President of the Republic of Malawi having not assented to the Electoral Laws Amendment Bills, the current Constitutional laws relating to the conduct of elections require the defendant to administer presidential elections concurrently with Local Government elections and the elections to the National Assembly”.
The petition has been filed for the applicants by Kawelo Lawyers in the Lilongwe High Court as Civil Cause number 2 of 2020 before Justice Ruth Chinangwa citing in the matter of Sections 12 (1); 15 (2); 20 (1); 40; 41 (3); 46 (2) (a); 67; 80 and 147 (5) of the Republic of Malawi Constitution.
It has also cited in the matter of Order 19, Rule 13 and Order 19 rule 27 of the Courts (High Court) Civil Procedure) Rules 2017.
The Court orders that “all parties concerned attend the Judge in Open Court on the 27th day of April 2020 at 8:40 o’clock forenoon on hearing of the application by the Claimants for declaratory orders”.
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
The case that was thrown out earlier was an injunction which was seeking to stop the current MPs from carrying out duties of Parliament until after a judicial review. It is totally different from this one and is not bound by the 8 days period to lodge a complaint see the sited sections. Furthermore it’s not the former MPs who are the petitioners, this time the petitioners are citizens following the 3rd March Constitutional Court rulling.
What a mess caused by Jane Ansah!
This issue was presented earlier by Jessie Kabwila and group but was thrown out by the courts. What will make it succeed this time? It should have been presented soon after the elections, not now although indeed, the DPP stole the whole election (presidential, parliamentary and for local government).
It was not thrown out if courts. They were told to go back and follow technical procedures for lodging the case
Akuti mphika umodzi sungaphike nsima yokupsya ndiyosapysa nthawi imodzi. All of last years elections should be cancelled. Otherwise our myopic judges should apologise to Jane Ansah and MEC for their misguided rulings.
If Ansah presided over irregularities in last years elections, then the stupid and corrupt judges should do the honest thing of also cancelling parliamentary and local poll results. Tippex was used across all the polls.
There has been a silly argument that time for former MPs to lodge complaints to the court passed and therefore they have nothing to be grieved about. NO. ConCourt ruling is fundamental in that it has given enough reasons for parliamentary and local poll results to be cancelled because the judges said the use of tippex was a very serious irregularity. If it was wrong in the presidential poll, it can’t be right in parliamentary and local polls.
Concourt ruling gave enough grounds for the cancelling and annulling of parliamentary and local polls. Tippex affected all the three elections last year. There is no logic in cancelling the presidential poll and yet leaving MPs and councillors intact. Last year’s MPs and councillors need to be reinstated like VP Chilima.
If the use of tippex was a serious irregularity in the presidential poll, then parliamentary and local government poll results need to be annulled too. It’s plain and simple.
ConCourt judgement is seriously flawed. The judges opened a Pandoras Box because according to our constitution, Presidential election is supposed to be held together with Parliamentary elections. They annulled the presidential poll result and kept quiet about parliamentary poll results. The presidential election can’t happen without changing Our Constitution. We all know that to change the constitution, there is need for two-thirds majority which the opposition (which wants the presidential elections) DON’T have. Gotani failed to change the constitution and illegally amended the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections Act. What a bunch of incompetent and corrupt judges we have.
Truth is; parliamentary election results were also cooked up by Jane Ansah for sure, but what does the country’s constitution dictates? I thought it stipulates all complaints concerning electral results should be logded within 8days after the announcement of the disputed results? Should we say those who are doing this now are just chancers or they don’t know the constitution as much as Jane doesn’t? Concourt can’t be blamed on this because courts don’t deliberate or pass judgement on issues that were never brought before it.
Who brought 50+1complaint in ConCourt so that the court should recomend or deliberate on it? The judges were corrupt and the judgement was flawed so plain and simple..
This claim follows the annullment of presidential results by the ConCourt and not announcement of tripartite election results by MEC. Therefore, the 8 days not applicable this time.