Rights activists take Ras Chikomeni nomination papers rejection to court

Centre for Human Rights, Education and Advice (Chrea) says it will seek legal redress in the courts on behalf of Ras David Chikomeni Chirwa after the Malawi Electoral Commission rejected his nomination papers on Wednesday.

Chrea deputy director Chikondi Chizozi said the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) was wrong to reject Chikomeni’s nomination papers.

“The rejection is unfair. We will now seek legal advice. Most of Malawians cannot afford the K2 million nomination fee. A lot of Malawians live below their salaries, they live below the poverty line,” said Chizozi.

MEC also rejected the nomination of Chikomeni as presidential candidate in the May 21 elections because he failed to amass the 10 signatures per districts to endorse him as a candidate.

Chikomeni said as much as MEC has the right to raise nomination fees, it has to consider poor people.

Chikomeni said he could not give the K2 million to MEC because he was too poor to raise the money and failed to amass the signatures because he did not have the money to travel to all the districts to get the needed signatures