The Malawian High Court on Monday ordered a new presidential poll after annulling the results of a vote in May last year that re-elected Malawian President Peter Mutharika, citing widespread irregularities, including the use of correction fluid on ballot papers.
Mutharika, who is to remain president until the fresh polls, has the right to appeal the verdict, which is expected to stoke turmoil in the normally peaceful southern African country.
“We hold that the first respondent [Mutharika] was not duly elected as president of Malawi on May 21, 2019,” lead judge Healey Potani said.
“We hereby nullify the results of the presidential elections and we order for a fresh election” within 150 days, he added, sparking jubilation in the court.
The verdict was greeted with festive cheer in the city of Blantyre, where residents in impoverished townships set off fireworks.
“I’m delighted. I am short of words, really, but this is a bright new day for Malawi,” 22-year-old university student Laura Banda said. “I hope this is a turning point for the country.”
The main opposition Malawi Congress Party, which led the court challenge, hailed the ruling as “a very fair judgement” that had “set a precedent” for future elections.
The five judges said that “the irregularities and anomalies have been so widespread, systematic and grave ... that the integrity of the results has been seriously compromised.”
They added that the results announced by the Malawi Electoral Commission “cannot be trusted as a true reflection of the will of the voters.”
Neither the ruling party nor the government responded to requests for comment.
“I am still consulting and will only be able to talk to you once I have talked to my superiors,” government spokesman Mark Botomani told reporters.
Sporadic protests have broken out across the country since Mutharika was declared the winner by a narrow margin, with 38.5 percent of the vote.
Runner-up Lazarus Chakwera, who lost by just 159,000 votes, said that he was robbed of victory and took the matter to court.
The case gripped the nation, keeping Malawians glued to their radios for hours on end as witnesses presented evidence of alleged vote-rigging during six months of hearings.
Security was tight for Monday’s ruling, with a heavy military presence around the court. Several businesses and schools had closed for the week, fearing violence.
The judges were driven to court in a military armored vehicle.
An army helicopter occasionally hovered above the courthouse and the central business district.
“It is clear that the use of Tipp-Ex [correction fluid] was employed by [commission] officers to hide votes,” judge Ivy Kamanga said, taking a turn reading an abridged version of the 500-page judgement — which nevertheless took more than nine hours to deliver.
“Use of Tipp-Ex was unjustifiable and an irregularity,” she said, adding that the way in which the commission “dealt with the alterations was not in line with the law, hence it was irregular.”
The court also said that only one-fourth of the results sheets were verified, calling this “a serious malpractice that undermined the elections.”
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