28 elections petitions pending in court

There are 28 pending petitions across the four registries of the High Court of Malawi challenging parliamentary and local government elections results in the May 21 Tripartite Elections, court records have shown.

The number has reduced to 28 after 16 were completed from the initial list of 44 filed in Blantyre, Lilongwe, Zomba and Mzuzu registries.

The records show that the completed cases were either dismissed by the courts through judgements or the petitioners withdrew.

From the list, 35 of the court cases related to parliamentary elections while four pertained to the Local Government Elections. There were five cases against the presidential election, but two have since been consolidated based on their similarity.

Common issues raised by the various petitioners include disputing results for the outcome of the elections in the respective categories, thus; presidential, parliamentary and local government.

Further, some of the issues being raised by the petitioners also include challenging of nomination of candidates and Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) in declaring some candidates winners.

Currently, Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president Lazarus Chakwera and UTM leader Saulos Chilima are seeking nullification of the presidential election results. The Constitutional Court is scheduled to start hearing the petition on July 29.