Chilima files for results invalidation
The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) may have declared President Peter Mutharika a victor in last week’s Tripartite Elections but the fuss continues to soak up the exercise.
UTM Party president Saulos Chilima yesterday took his quest for justice further when he filed an application requesting the High Court in Lilongwe to quash the presidential results.
The action by the former vice-president and UTM torchbearer in the May 21 polls comes days after he disputed the manner in which MEC administered the polls which saw Mutharika eventually emerging victorious.
UTM spokesperson Joseph Chidanti Malunga confirmed last evening making an application to the court to have all the Presidential results nullified.
According to results announced by MEC last Monday, Chilima came third with 1 018 369 votes representing 20.24 percent of the total votes while Malawi Congress Party (MCP) leader Lazarus Chakwera trailed Mutharika with 1 781 740 votes.
Mutharika, who officially took charge of the country’s leadership yesterday, was declared winner with 38.57 percent after he amassed 1 940 709 votes.
“There is a huge range of complaints that we have but the bottom of it is we want the court to nullify the Presidential results after MEC failed to resolve those grievances,” said Malunga.
On her part, registrar of the High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal Agnes Patemba also confirmed receiving the UTM applications and what remains is to allocate the file to identify a judge who will give it a date for hearing.
In a statement issued last week, Chilima said he had observed with concern the serious irregularities identified during the polls which MEC did not address and satisfactorily dealt with.
“These serious irregularities have, in fact, worsened and, in the process, the credibility and integrity of these elections have been significantly compromised,” he said.
Mutharika, whose party only managed to win four members of Parliament (MPs) during the polls, fell out of grace with Mutharika early last year after expressing his desire to contest as President.
