Reflections on Malawi's 2019 elections court decisions

“There is no higher crime an individual, an institution, or group of people can commit than one that subverts the sovereign will of the people, whether through incompetence, negligence, or design make the expression of that will inarticulate.” (Speech - Willy Mutunga, Chief Justice of Kenya (as he then was) November 14, 2011 when presiding over the swearing in of members of Kenya’s Electoral Commission).

In February 2020, the Constitutional Court of Malawi in a monumental 500-page judgement annulled the country’s May 2019 presidential election and ordered a re-run within 150 days, citing widespread polling irregularities that included the unlawful use of correction fluid on ballot papers.

The court also found that only about a quarter of the results sheets were verified, and concluded that such conduct amounted to “serious malpractice that undermined the elections”.

Editor's Comment
Public servants deserve better than union infighting

‘The strongest bond of human sympathy outside the family relation should be one uniting working people of all nations and tongues and kindreds’.- Abraham LincolnUntil then, the Council’s operations remain suspended, delaying critical decisions affecting thousands of public sector employees.The current standoff is between the Manual Workers Union on one side and the Six Cooperating Trade Unions, namely BONU, BOPEU, BTU, BDU, BOSETU and...

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