Malawi president loses election court challenge

Malawi’s Constitutional Court has rejected an appeal made by President Peter Mutharika and the country’s electoral commission to suspend the judgement the court made last week to annul May’s presidential election.

The court also rejected the electoral commission’s claim that another election would be too expensive.

Judge Dingiswayo Madise replied that democracy was costly and the rights of citizens were of the utmost importance. 

The court has ordered a re-run of the poll within five months. 

Last week’s judicial ruling invalidated Mr Mutharika’s narrow victory on the grounds of widespread polling irregularities. 

According to judges, the electoral commission presided over rampant fraud, including the “massive” tampering of votes with Tipp-Ex.

Mr Mutharika was initially declared the winner of the election with just 38.6% of the vote - under 159,000 more votes than his nearest rival, Lazarus Chakwera.  

Reports indicate that both Mr Mutharika and Malawi’s electoral commission plan to appeal the decision to the country’s Supreme Court. 

Photo: Reuters