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Court reverses presidential decree

The High Court in Blantyre on Saturday froze President Joyce Banda’s decree to annul the May 20 Tripartite Elections and stop the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) from continuing with tallying and announcing the results pending a judicial review.

MEC and the Malawi Law Society (MLS) represented by lawyers John Gift Mwakhwawa and Noel Chalamanda; and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential hopeful, Peter Mutharika, represented by Kalekeni Kaphale, jointly appeared before Justice Kenyatta Nyirenda who granted an injunction against Banda’s order.

kaphale_court“The judge has granted our application to stop the implementation of the President’s order because it was made outside the realms of the law,” said Kaphale in an interview outside the court.

“This means that the order is stayed pending judicial review. Until the review of the decision takes place, the President and all her agents are stopped from implementing it, including the broadcasting that is taking place on radio and television stations about it,” he added.

According to Kaphale, the order of the court had been served on the Attorney General and all concerned “through personal service and newspaper adverts”.

The lawyer said the stay order was not time specific.

“It is not tied to a specific time. It will run as long as it is not challenged,” he explained, adding that a date for the judicial review had not been set.

President Banda issued a proclamation yesterday morning to annul the elections held on May 20 2014, as well as suspend the determination and publication of the results. She also called for fresh elections in three months.

She based the order on reported wide-spread irregularities during the electoral process.

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