A move by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to commence a case against Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) on the use of the national ID as the sole document for voter registration has been rejected by the High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal principal registry.
But legal pundit Justin Dzonzi has suggested two avenues the DDP can use to sustain the application.
The verdict dated October 9 2024 said the court interpreted that the summons were supposed to be rejected for non-compliance with the rules and being an abuse of court process.
B u t i n a r u l i n g , assistant registrar Elijah Blackboard Dazilikwiza Pachalo Daniels argued that the DPP as a party does not hold the right to vote but her supporters; hence, it is the voters who were supposed to file the application.
Asked Daniels in the ruling: “What damage or injury to their rights has the claimant suffered? Did the claimant go to register somewhere and they were rejected to register?”
He described as frivolous and vexatious for the DPP to petition the court where the party’s rights have not been violated or that they cannot show how they have a proper standing.
He said: “Surely, the claimant does not have the right to vote. If it had, how would that be enforced?”
The judge further said the move was an abuse of court process which is apparent when a party engages the court “by self-anointing”.
“Yes! she may be an interested party, but she may not show over and above a right so infringed than those of her followers who have been so denied, if at all,” it reads.
He suggested that, perhaps, the party should have presented itself as a friend of the court and not as it portrayed in the application.
Daniels said, as registrar, his duty is to ensure that matters presented as the DPP did be struck off since they have a slim prospect of success and also for reasons of saving the judge from rendering their services to waste.
“We regret to respectfully communicate to the claimant that we refuse to issue their summons for the attendance of the court because we think, first that substantially they have mocked the spirit of the rules, with eight if not more non-compliance sins,” further reads the ruling.
Reacting to the ruling, DPP director of legal affairs Chipiliro Mpinganjira said yesterday they will respect it and start looking for other avenues to ensure that voting rights of Malawians are not infringed.
“Our argument was that Section 4 [12] of the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Act is unconstitutional. Section 77 of the Malawi Constitution is the only law that qualifies or disqualifies a voter and that is what should be used.
“The fact that the law was passed by Parliament does not mean we cannot challenge it. We are happy that we tried the route of the courts. It tells all Malawians that we are ready to fight for them everywhere,” he said.
Dzonzi said the law allows the registrar to vet documentation; hence a matter can be defeated on technical grounds.
In a joint letter to MEC dated September 16 2024, DPP, United Democratic Front, UTM Party and Alliance for Democracy asked the electoral body to address at least five issues to ensure a smooth and transparent electoral process.
The issues include the capacity of election management devices, lack of independent information and communications technology auditors during the polls, demanded manual transmission of results and use of national IDs as sole identification documents for voter registration.
