Election case goes to Constitutional Court
The consolidated case Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president Lazarus Chakwera and his UTM counterpart Saulos Chilima have filed against the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) at the High Court is a constitutional matter, Registrar of High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal Agnes Patemba said yesterday.
She said Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda has certified the electoral case as so and a panel of five judges has since been set up to hear it.
The judges are justices Healey Potani, Mike Tembo, Dingiswayo Madise, Ivy Kamanga and Redson Kapindu.
MCP and UTM had separately filed cases with the High Court calling for annulment of presidential election results claiming they were rigged.
In an earlier interview with our sister paper The Nation, Patemba said the consolidation order meant the cases would now be treated as one application and also be heard by one court.
In his order to have the case consolidated, Judge Charles Mkandawire said having perused through the two petitions and their supporting documents, he had observed they were similar in nature and relate to common question of law.
The two opposition leaders separately filed their applications with High Court Lilongwe District Registry last week challenging results of the May 21 presidential election in which governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) President Peter Mutharika was declared winner with Chakwera and Chilima coming second and third, respectively.
But Mkandawire further observed that the two cases arose out of the same transaction; as such there was no good and sufficient reason to continue hearing them separately.
