UTM lawyers file court submissions with errors

The Constitutional Court hearing the elections case has extended time for Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) and President Peter Mutharika to respond to submissions after UTM Party lawyers sent an electronic copy of the submissions to them which had errors.

The lawyers for MEC and Mutharika have since been given up to Sunday, December 15, 2019 at 10am to submit the written responses instead of December 14.

“… been informed by the 1st petitioner that the electronic copy of their final submissions which was served on the respondents had errors and has since been replaced,” reads a notice from the court.

The court said the decision was arrived at because the lawyers for the respondents had already started working on the documents which had errors.

This follows just days after UTM lawyers were slapped with a K600,000 for delaying in serving the submissions to the court and the respondents.

The submissions by first petitioner Saulos Chilima and second petitioner Lazarus Chakwera, losing presidential candidates for UTM and Malawi Congress Party (MCP), respectively, have leaked to the public ahead of their submission in court, with oral submissions set for next week.

The submissions focus on irregularities that occurred in the election and how MEC failed to remedy those irregularities as required by law, saying the electoral body failed in its constitutional obligations.