Malawi Braces for Another Election Challenge Case 

BLANTYRE - Malawi's Constitutional Court has agreed to hear a challenge to last year's presidential election rerun from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party.  President Lazarus Chakwera defeated the DPP's Peter Mutharika in the rerun after the court nullified the 2019 election, which Mutharika had won.  The DPP argues the rerun should also be nullified after the High Court quashed the appointment of four DPP commissioners to the Malawi Electoral Commission. 

This past June, the High Court quashed the appointment of four DPP commissioners Jean Mathanga, Linda Kunje, Steven Duwa and Arthur Nanthuru, saying their appointment was invalid and unconstitutional.   The court acted after the governing Malawi Congress Party had challenged the appointment of the commissioners. In his ruling, Judge Kenyatta Nyirenda further said the quashing of the appointments did not affect the validity of the June 2020 re-run presidential election.