Malawian opposition goes to court over vote ‘daylight robbery’

May 31, 2019
| Report Focus News

Malawi’s opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera has rejected the results of last week’s presidential election. He says he is filing a high court petition to have it annulled.

Chakwera lost the election by just 159,000 votes to incumbent Peter Mutharika, who was hurriedly sworn into office the day after the delayed result was issued on Monday.

Lazarus Chakwera has described the election results as daylight robbery and called them a crime against democracy and Malawians’ decency as a people.

Mr Chakwera’s Malawi Congress Party had earlier won a brief halt in the release of results, saying there had been glaring irregularities.

The fact that Mr Mutharika was sworn in just a day after the results were declared suggests the authorities were keen to avoid further disputes about the poll.

During the swearing-in ceremony, Mr Mutharika said the opposition had to accept there could only be one winner.