Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has nullified the parliamentary election in Lilongwe Mtandire-Mtsiriza Constituency following two complaints that Malawi Congress Party (MCP) candidate George Zulu lodged over the handling of null and void votes.
Unofficial results at the constituency tally centre showed that Zulu trailed Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Alfred Gangata by five votes after getting 12 284 votes against Gangata’s 12 289 votes.
In a letter dated September 27 2025 to Zulu’s lawyer Pempho Likongwe, MEC chairperson Annabel Mtalimanja said the handling of polling materials at the council, especially the void votes, departed from the legally set procedure.
She said: “The council returning officer did not have the authority to [a] prepare any record relating to a parliamentary record at the council, [b] examine void votes, [c] open tamper evident envelopes containing void votes.
“The conduct of the council returning officer in opening the tamper-evident envelopes and purporting to examine the void votes was a serious misconduct and has caused a serious irregularity.”
Mtalimanja, a judge of the High Court of Malawi, said the commission has been unable to determine the results with certainty and “resolved that the parliamentary election in the constituency be nullified or cancelled”.
“The commission will hold a by-election in the same manner as if there was a vacancy, on a date to be advised, accordingly,” she said.
In his petition to MEC, Zulu said the constituency recorded 445 void votes, yet at the district tally centre only 345 void votes were submitted.
Zulu asked for a recount considering the narrow difference in the unofficial results and missing of the alleged 100 void votes.
Yesterday, Likongwe confirmed receipt of the letter.
Gangata did not respond to phone calls or WhatsApp messages on the matter.
At party level, MCP and United Democratic Front have also petitioned MEC to look into the alleged irregularities.
