Court rules MEC has no powers to call vote recount – Jumbe obtains injunction
High Court Judge Healey Potani has ruled that Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has no powers to call for a recount of the votes before initial counting has ended.
According to the ruling delivered by Justice Potani after Friday Jumbe president of New Labor Party sought court relief, the judge said only the court has powers to call for a recount of the votes after being satisfied with the grounds or complaints from individuals or parties.
The ruling asks MEC to go ahead and continue counting the votes and tallying them.
The court also give MEC a lee way to announce the results of the elections when they have finished counting and if after announcing there are any queries parties should lodge their complaints with the court.
The current status raises the risk of post-election violence in the southern African country.
MEC suspended the country’s election announcement and ordered a re-count of votes massive vote fraud.
Commissioner Chimkwita Phiri said at the national tally centre in Blantyre that the number of ballots counted exceeded the number of voters registered.
“There’s need for a physical check by opening the actual ballot boxes,” he said.
Despite this, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Election Observer mission has declared the May 20 poll as generally “free, peaceful and credible”.
“While concerns were noted, these were not of such gravity as to affect the integrity of the electoral process,” said Netumbwa Nandi Ndaitwa, head of the mission and Namibia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.
