Tw o Malawi Congress Party (MCP) contenders who lost in Kasungu South West Constituency primaries have dragged the party to court challenging the outcome of the vote.
In their affidavit in support of the application before the High Court of Malawi, Alex Major and Mirriam Jekapu allege that the February 21 2025 primaries were marred by several irregularities; hence, their move to seek redress.
They claim that there was intimidation of delegates by some par ty officials, disenfranchisement of delegates, shortage of ballot papers, bribes to delegates, removal of monitors, non-delegates casting vote and other malpractices.
Reads t h e af f i dav i t : “Unless the court intervenes, the [f i r s t] defendant ’s actions in endorsing the second defendant w i l l effectively foreclose our opportunity to ever be the MCP candidate for Kasungu South West in the upcoming general election, despite the process having been patently unfair.”
The two also want the court to grant an injunction to restrain MCP, its officials, agent s or any per sons acting on its behalf, from recognising or treating Amon Nkhata as the party’s shadow member of Par l iament (MP) for the constituency, pending the determination of the substantive dispute.
The court has since set May 13 for hearing of the application for an injunction.
In an interview yesterday, MCP secretar y genera l Richa rd Ch imwendo Banda said it was not strange for candidates to have issues with primary elections, and the party will deal with the matter.
“ Yo u c an n o t hav e p r i m a r i e s i n 2 2 9 constituencies and not expect a dispute in one of the constituencies,” he said.
In Lilongwe Msozi , constituency secretary Br ighton Marko and area cha i rperson Gi f t Chid z am’mbuyo a l so obtained a court order seeking a judicial review on complaints relating to the composition of the electoral college.
Aspirants for the MCP ticket in the constituency include Lilongwe Msozi North legislator Sosten Gwengwe, Lilongwe Msozi South parliamentarian Liana Chapota Munthali, Bizwick Chapota and Warrant Chasukusa.
