The High Court of Malawi has granted two opposition parties and five individuals their wish to start judicial review proceedings on their demand for an independent audit of Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) system.
Presiding judge Chimbizgani Kacheche made the ruling in Blantyre yesterday following an application filed by private practice lawyers Felix Tambulasi and Bob Chimkango on behalf of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), UTM Party, Rumphi East legislator Kamlepo Kalua, Luther Mambala, Bishop Chimwemwe Mtuwa, Steve Chimwaza and Jubeck Monjeza.
The applicants want an independent audit of the electronic management system (EMS) MEC will be using in the September 16 General Election.
Further, the claimants also want MEC not to implement the use of electronic management devices (EMD) to identify voters and electronic transmission to determine the national results. MEC rejected all the proposals and, on the independent audit, cited the risk of compromising security.
But in his ruling, Kacheche said hearing of the judicial review proceedings should be expedited to allow the court to determine the matter before the election date.
“All the parties shall strictly comply [with] the rules of civil procedure in dealing with the matter herein,” he said.
In an interview yesterday, UTM Party spokesperson Felix Njawala said they opted for legal action after exhausting all the avenues of resolving disputes.
He said the country’s major opposition political parties submitted various requests to MEC bordering on the management of this year’s general elections, but the electoral body rejected them.
MEC director of media and public relations Sangwani Mwafulirwa yesterday declined to comment on the matter.
In June, MEC rejected a joint proposal by five opposition parties to conduct an independent audit of its EMS, citing constitutional independence, legal insufficiency and technical inaccuracies in the proposed scope.
The parties were DPP, UTM, Alliance for Democracy, United Democratic Front and People’s Party.
In a letter addressed to the secretaries general of the five parties, MEC chairperson Annabel Mtalimanja accused the political groupings of misrepresenting facts and attempting to initiate an audit based on “flawed assumptions” and “unsupported allegations”.
