Constitutional Court on Thursday (August 8) in Malawi started hearing a presidential election petition challenging the re-election earlier this year of Peter Arthur Mutharika.
The five judge bench is hearing the case filed by two main opposition candidates: opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party, MCP, and former vice-president Saulos Chilima, who came third in the vote.
The president, his party the Democratic People’s Party, DPP, and the Malawi Electoral Commission -MEC are all respondents in the case.
The case is being broadcast live on radio and TV stations but only audio options are available, “not live visuals,” the privately-owned Nation newspaper reported.
However political pundits in Malawi said it is still a win for the media in terms of transparency of the proceedings.
The proceedings are also in both English and Chichewa – the dominant local language. The presiding judge noted that this is to allow every Malawian to follow the case and not be left behind.
Mutharika was declared the winner of the May 21 polls according to final results by the Malawi Electoral Commission, MEC.
The opposition parties filed an injunction against the final declaration by MEC in a High Court but it was vacated and allowed the election body to declare Mutharika winner.
Since then, Civil Society Organizations have organized a series of demonstrations demanding the resignation of the election chief and her commissioners.
The protests have often turned chaotic as security forces have been engaged in running battles with protesters across the country.
A court recently threw out a government request to allow the protests to be banned.
