This is a very rare fact in the history of presidential elections around the world. The Malawi Constitutional Court on Monday canceled the re-election of outgoing President Peter Mutharika. A new ballot will be organized within five months. "We consider that Peter Mutharika was not duly elected on May 21, 2019," said the court in a 500-page judgment.
Fraudulent use of "Tipex"
The Court found that election officials used "Tipex" to falsify votes, which is "unjustifiable" and constitutes "an irregularity". She also noted that only a quarter of the voting records had been verified, "a serious breach that undermines the elections".
Peter Mutharika, in power since 2014, had been re-elected last year with 38.57% of the vote, according to the results of the Election Commission, before the main representative of the opposition, Lazarus Chakwera (35.41%). Only 159,000 votes separated the two men.
Lazarus Chakwera and another unsuccessful opposition candidate, Saulos Chilima, who came third, immediately denounced the frauds, including an abnormally high number of them, counting the votes crossed out with white to erase. They had seized the Constitutional Court to obtain the annulment of the presidential election, while the winner's camp denied any fraud. EU chief observers Mark Stephens also said shortly after the election that "a lot of mistakes were made during the count".
Malawi was anxiously awaiting the judgment, especially since it has seen numerous opposition demonstrations in recent months, interspersed with violence with the security forces. The latter were mobilized on Monday to avoid any slippage, particularly near the Constitutional Court in Lilongwe. An army helicopter occasionally flew over the building as well as the business district, and the judges were brought to the scene in an armored vehicle.
The United Nations, the United Kingdom, the European Union and the United States react
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged the people of Malawi to "continue to uphold the rule of law and promote peace, unity and stability". The Court's decision risks causing further unrest in this poor country in southern Africa.
Countries have already responded to the Court's judgment. This constitutes a “key moment in the history of Malawi”, underlined the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. It must be said that for months, the Malawians closely followed the hearings of the Constitutional Court, broadcast for the first time live and in full by private radio stations. It remains to be seen now how Peter Mutharika's camp will react.
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