Malawi Court Halts Release of Presidential Election Result
Malawi Opposition Says Court Order Halts Election Result Release
(Bloomberg) -- Malawi’s main opposition party obtained a court order restraining the election commission from releasing results of the May 21 presidential vote, Maurice Munthali, a spokesman for the group said.
The Malawi Congress Party wants the result announcement stayed until a recount -- in the presence of representatives of political parties that contested the elections -- of votes from 10 of the country’s 28 districts.
With 75% of votes counted on Wednesday, Malawi’s President Peter Mutharika was leading with 40.49% of the ballots, while Lazarus Chakwera from the MCP had 35.44%. Vice President Saulos Chilima was third with 18.25%.
Chilima told reporters in the capital, Lilongwe Saturday that the Malawi Electoral Commission should nullify the elections because vote counting had been fraudulent all across the country.
The commission did release final results from parliamentary elections on Saturday. Mutharika’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party secured 62 of the 193 National Assembly seats, while the MCP won 55 and Chilima’s United Transformation Movement four. Independent legislators won 55 seats.
Just less than three-quarters of the 6.8 million people who registered to vote cast ballots, Jane Ansah, the commission’s chairwoman, told reporters in the commercial capital, Blantyre.
--With assistance from Mike Cohen.
To contact the reporter on this story: Frank Jomo in Blantyre at fjomo@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Claudia Maedler at cmaedler@bloomberg.net, Pauline Bax
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