Malawi election case resumes Tuesday:  UTM’s Gwalidi remains in witness stand 

The ongoing elections case, being heard in the High Court in Lilongwe, sitting as a Constitutional Court, resumes sitting Tuesday September 3 with  witness of the first petitioner, the immediate past vice-president Saulos Chilima, Miriam Gwalidi, being cross-examined by first respondent President Peter Mutharika’s lawyers.

The case proceedings in Lilongwe, being heard by a five-judge panel chaired by Healey Potani, ran for 11 days non-stop before it went into a week’s recess.

The court announced it would sit for nine days uninterrupted before another direction is given.

Chilima, who already testified,   was questioned by Attorney General (AG) Kalekeni Kaphale, representing Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC),  over his petition alleging that the election was rigged through “irregular use of forms, intimidation and bribing of monitors and alterations of results using correctional fluid Tipp-ex.

The UTM leader effectively agreed that all allegations he anf supporters had made would not have affected the outcome of the polls.

His lawyers face an uphill task convicning the court the election was fraudulent. None of Chilima or UTM polling monitors disputed the conduct of the election while they were ongoing, although Chilima claimed fraud was being perpetrated before polling day.

Chilima and his counterpart, Malawi Congress Party (MCP) presidential hopeful Lazarus Chakwera , want results of the Tripartite Elections nullified on allegations that MEC mismanaged them and unduly announced the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Peter Mutharika as winner.

The MCP presidential hopeful is also asking the Constitutional Court to direct MEC to organise and conduct a fresh Presidential Election in strict conformity with the Constitution and PPEA.