The High Court of Malawi has dismissed an application by Lilongwe City Mtandire-Mtsiriza legislator Alfred Gangata (Democtratic Progressive Party) to throw out a petition challenging his election.
In a ruling delivered on Wednesday in Lilongwe, Justice Yakuwawa Msiska dismissed Gangata’s preliminary objection with costs, clearing the way for rival candidate George Zulu of Malawi Congress Party to proceed with his petition on the outcome of the September 16 2025 General Election parliamentary race in the constituency.
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The judge said the issues before him were different from those previously handled by Mdeza.
He observed that the earlier case did not seek to determine the validity of the election itself and was not a full inquiry under Section 101 of the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Act.
Msiska further noted that questions relating to “undue election” and “undue return” only arose after MEC declared a winner.
Gangata, who is also Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, had argued that Zulu’s petition was res judicata — meaning the matter had already been decided in an earlier case handled by Justice Simeon Mdeza.
But Zulu’s lawyer Wanangwa Munkhondia said the earlier case only dealt with the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) decision to nullify the election, not the validity of Gangata’s eventual victory.
“We argued that the matter before Justice Mdeza was an appeal by Gangata, challenging the decision by the commission to nullify the election held and conducted in Lilongwe Mtandire-Mtsiriza Constituency,” he said.
Munkhondia said Mdeza later ordered MEC to declare the winner using votes that could be salvaged, leading to Gangata’s declaration as winner on November 20 2025.
“It is this declaration by MEC that George Zulu is challenging before Justice Msiska,” he said.
The petition centres on alleged discrepancies in null and void votes.
“The Constituency Summary of Results Sheet showed 445 null and void votes but the commission confirmed receiving 345 null and void votes. No explanation was made on the difference by the commission,” Munkhondia said.
Reacting to the ruling, Gangata’s lawyer Gilbert Khonyongwa said the defence team would study the full ruling before deciding the next step.
