Malawi leader to contest new poll ordered by court

Malawian President Peter Mutharika on Wednesday condemned a decision by the constitutional court to annul his re-election and said he would take part in the fresh poll ordered by judges despite his decision to appeal the verdict.

The southern African nation made history on Monday when the court ruled in favour of an opposition bid to cancel May presidential election results over fraud allegations.

After six months of hearings broadcast on public radio, the judges deemed that Mutharika was "not duly elected".

They cited widespread irregularities such as the use of correction fluid on ballot sheets and ordered a fresh poll within 150 days.

Mutharika, who has pledged to challenge the court's decision, described the judgement as a "serious subversion of justice" marking the "death of Malawi's democracy".

"We are not appealing to stop the next election," said Mutharika on Wednesday during an address to the nation in the capital Lilongwe.

The court said only 23 percent of the results sheets were verified and it "finds this to be a serious malpractice that undermined the elections". By PATRICK MEINHARDT (AFP/File)

"We are ready to campaign and win as we have always done."

The president added that he was appealing to correct "fundamental errors in the judgement" and to "seek justice".

"Let us not be carried away by this court ruling because it is not the end of everything," he added.

Mutharika, 79, has six weeks to submit the challenge to Malawi's Supreme Court.

His lawyer Frank Mbeta confirmed to AFP they were preparing the appeal papers but did not have a submission date.

'Democracy has won'

It is the first time a presidential election has been challenged on legal grounds in Malawi since independence from Britain in 1964, and only the second African vote result to be cancelled after the 2017 Kenya presidential vote.

Lazarus Chakwera, the leader of the main opposition Malawi Congress Party, who came a close second to Mutharika, hailed the landmark verdict.

"It is democracy that has won. It is Malawi that has won. It is Africa that has won. And now justice has been served," he told more than 10,000 jubilant supporters who thronged his party's Lilongwe headquarters on Tuesday.

Mutharika was declared the winner of the May 21 election with 38.5 percent of the vote, with Chakwera losing by just 159,000 votes.

Malawi. By Jean Michel CORNU (AFP)

Chakwera said he was robbed of victory and went to court to challenge the result.

He was backed in the legal challenge by the former vice president Saulos Chilima, who fell out with Mutharika and contested the election on an opposition ticket.

The constitutional court judges concurred that "the irregularities and anomalies have been so widespread, systematic and grave... that the integrity of the results has been seriously compromised."

The court said only 23 percent of the results sheets had been able to be verified, and that the outcome announced by the electoral commission "cannot be trusted as a true reflection of the will of the voters".

'Not the end'

Allegations of vote-rigging sparked protests across the normally peaceful country last year shortly after results were announced. Several of the demonstrations turned violent.

Mutharika condemned the violence and called on all Malawians to "keep calm".

He added that Malawi was a "lawful nation" and said the judgement was not the end of "litigation in the May 21 elections case".

Opposition supporters celebrated in the capital Lilongwe and other major cities. By AMOS GUMULIRA (AFP)

Chilima, the third runner-up, told a news conference Wednesday that Mutharika was within his rights.

"People have got their rights to appeal," he said.

But he was not kind to the electoral commission, calling for its immediate resignation.

"They simply must go. The court has found them incompetent. They have no place in... Malawi," he said, castigating the commission's "cavalier and reckless attitude".

In the town of Salima, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of Lilongwe, dozens of opposition supporters on Tuesday paraded a coffin draped with the blue campaign cloth of Mutharika's Democratic Progressive Party.

"Dad is dead," they chanted in the local Chichewa language as they marched through the streets.

Further south in Zomba, the former colonial capital and now fourth-largest city, opposition supporters sang and danced in the streets on Tuesday, calling on Mutharika to step down following the historic ruling.

Mutharika will remain president until the new election, the court ruled, with Chilima as his deputy.