Malawi presidential ballots inspection underway

A private practice lawyer Chikosa Silungwe, who is lead counsel for Saulos Chilima of UTM Party, the first petitioner in the case seeking nullification of the presidential election results over alleged irregularities, has said they have started inspecting presidential ballot papers in the May 21 Tripartite Elections following a June 27 Constitutional Court ruling that Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) should give petitioners access.

Silungwe said  said the exercise started on Wednesday in Blantyre and continued on Thursday and that legal teams for all parties were available.

The exercise, being coordinated by the office of the registrar of the High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal, is restricted to lawyers of the two petitioners—Chilima and Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president Lazarus Chakwera and respondents President Peter Mutharika and Malawi Electoral Commissioners—and other stakeholders.

Silungwe said  after Blantyre they will then move to Lilongwe where they will conduct similar exercises at Parliament warehouses before moving to Mzuzu.

“ Thereafter, we will analyse what we have found as we build the case,” he said.

Lawyer Frank Mbeta, the lead counsel for the first respondent Mutharika, said they did not object to the fresh applications by the petitioners because the issues at hand mostly concerned MEC.

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