Court dismisses case against MEC
The High Court in Blantyre on Tuesday dismissed a case in which independent candidate for Limbuli Ward in Mulanje Limbuli Constituency, Derek Safari, wanted the court to reverse Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) determination on winner of the 2014 polls for the ward.
The determination takes the number of electoral cases dismissed by the High Court this year alone to three.
MEC chief elections officer Willie Kalonga said in a statement released on Wedneday that Safari was disqualified after polling, adding that MEC got evidence that he was convicted on a criminal case. That made him ineligible to contest.
He was dissatisfied with the decision and petitioned the court to overturn the decision and declare him winner as he was leading in the vote count.
Said Kalonga: “Registrar of the High Court Simeon Mdeza on Tuesday 19th January 2016 dismissed Safari’s petition on the ground of inordinate and inexcusable delay by him in setting down the matter for hearing.”
On January 12 2016, the High Court in Lilongwe dismissed cases involving Anna Mpinda Kankwenda and Bertha Zilemba who had challenged results of the 2014 Parliamentary Elections in Mchinji North and Kasungu North East constituencies respectively.
The two had cited irregularities in the vote counting process, but their petitions were dismissed by consent of the petitioner in the case of Kankwenda while that of Zilemba was dismissed by mutual agreement.
During the May 20 2014 elections, MEC received 360 complaints of which only 26 ended up in court. The rest were resolved through the Complaints Handling Unit.
Of the 26 cases, nine have been dismissed with costs in favour of MEC, 10 were withdrawn by mutual consent, one is still in court awaiting judgment, six are still in court pending hearing while two cases are at the Supreme Court of Appeal.
