One of the arguments of the supporters of a certain political divide is that no court, anywhere in the world, has sacked a sitting president before. That’s why I found it pertinent to bring this judgment of the Supreme Court of Malawi (an African country) on 08 May, 2020, when it upheld the judgment of the Constitutional Court of Malawi that annulled the presidential election of the country.

In a unanimous judgment, the Supreme Court accused the Electoral Commission of taking sides when it chose to appeal the decision of the Constitutional Court.

The Constitutional Court had cited “widespread irregularities” as reason for the annulment.

Does one or two things ring a bell?

Malawi’s Supreme Court on Friday in a unanimous decision upheld an earlier court ruling that annulled President Peter Mutharika’s narrow election victory last year.

A new election will now be held on July 2, for which three candidates, including Mutharika, filed their nomination papers this week.

The Constitutional Court in February cited “widespread, systematic and grave” irregularities when it annulled the vote that returned Mutharika to power in the southern African nation last May.

Mutharika, 79, and the electoral commission later appealed the Constitutional Court’s decision.

In its ruling on Friday, the Supreme Court said, “The various breaches undermined the duties of the Malawi Electoral Commission and grossly undermined rights of voters. None of the candidates obtained a majority.”

It added that the electoral commission should not have appealed, as doing so showed it was taking sides.

“The conduct of the electoral commission left a lot to be desired,” Justice Frank Kapanda said. “There was a lack of seriousness and incompetence.”

Reporting from Harare, Al Jazeera’s Haru Mutasa said the top court found Mutharika’s appeal “clearly unprofessional and embarrassing”.

“Mutharika has always said last year’s presidential election was free and fair but the Constitutional Court said there just too many irregularities and some results were changed using typewriter or correction fluid.”

In his appeal, Mutharika said the judges had “erred in law”.

“We find that the first appellant [Mutharika] was not duly elected to the office of the president,” said Kapanda, one of seven judges who read out the ruling in the capital Lilongwe.

Nomination filed

On Thursday, Mutharika filed his nomination papers for the July rerun alongside his new running mate Atupele Muluzi, the 41-year old son of former President Bakili Muluzi, who ruled Malawi from 1994 to 2004.

“Together we will be the bridge to the future, together we will win this election,” the president told supporters in the city of Blantyre.

Only three of 10 expected candidates have presented credentials to run in the upcoming poll.

Opposition figures Lazarus Chakwera and Saulos Chilima filed their nomination papers on Wednesday.

Mutharika was declared the winner of the disputed elections with 38.5 percent of the vote.

Chakwera’s Malawi Congress Party came a close second, garnering 35 percent, while Chilima’s United Transformation Movement came third with 20 percent.

The two parties have joined forces under Chakwera’s banner to maximise their chances of unseating the president.

https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2020/5/8/malawi-court-rejects-presidents-appeal-against-poll-annulment

Meanwhile, in the rerun election that was eventually held in July of 2020, the Opposition candidate, Lazarus Chekwera, won the polls.

Malawi's opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera has won the country's rerun presidential vote, officials say.
He defeated incumbent Peter Mutharika with 58.57% of the vote in Tuesday's poll, the electoral commission announced late on Saturday.
In February, Malawi's constitutional court annulled Mr Mutharika's victory in the May 2019 election, citing vote tampering.
The country was bitterly divided in the run-up to this week's election.

It is the second African nation to annul a presidential election over irregularities, after Kenya in 2017.
How brave judges rejected a 'second-rate election'
A quick guide to Malawi
Following the official result on Saturday, Mr Chakwera said his victory was "a win for democracy and justice," adding: "My heart is bubbling with joy."
His supporters took to the streets of the Malawian capital, Lilongwe, sounding car horns and letting off fireworks.
Mr Chakwera is expected to be sworn in on Sunday.


Malawi's new leader will look to heal the nation

By Will Ross, BBC News

This is a hugely significant moment in Malawi's political history, and is evidence that neither the courts nor the electorate were prepared to be bullied or influenced by presidential power.
Other countries in Africa have had elections annulled - it happened in Kenya a few years ago - but for the opposition candidate to then go on and win a rerun is unprecedented.

Outgoing President Peter Mutharika described Tuesday's vote as the worst election Malawi has ever had.
Peter Mutharika's narrow victory in last year's poll was cancelled by the Constitutional Court after evidence emerged that correction fluid had been used to alter the vote tallies. He then turned to the Supreme Court for help. Judges there came under a lot of pressure but stood firm. And now the majority of Malawian voters have rejected him.
Mr Mutharika is now crying foul and may mount a legal challenge, but the people of Malawi have chosen Lazarus Chakwera as their next president. The Pentecostal preacher and former theology lecturer will first have to heal a nation that's been through many months of political turmoil.

Speaking ahead of Saturday's results, Mr Mutharika said that while he found the election "unacceptable", it was his "sincere hope that we should take this country forward instead of backwards".

Why was there a new vote?

A rerun of the 2019 election was ordered after the Constitutional Court found the original ballot had been marred by widespread irregularities.
That election saw President Mutharika narrowly re-elected by fewer than 159,000 votes.
Mr Chakwera, who came second in that election, argued that tallying forms had been added up incorrectly and tampered with.

Uncertainty around the result sparked months of tension, which spilled over into clashes between opposition supporters and police.
February's annulment led some to celebrate, but Mr Mutharika described it as a "serious subversion of justice" which marked the death of the country's democracy.
There were concerns over the logistics and safety of carrying out an election in the midst of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.

But this week's rerun was largely peaceful, despite deep tensions

Who is Lazarus Chakwera ?

The opposition leader, a former cleric, heads up the opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP).
Born in Lilongwe to a subsistence farmer, the philosophy and theology graduate has pledged to raise the national minimum wage, among other reforms.

Lazarus Chakwera. Candidate for the Tonse Alliance [ Born 5 April 1955 ],[ Studied theology in Malawi, South Africa and USA ],[ Pastor and lecturer worked at the Assemblies of God School of Theology ],[ Authored several books on religion including Reach the Nations ],[ Ran for president in 2014 and came second ].

Mr Chakwera leads a nine-party coalition, the Tonse Alliance, and had the backing of former President Joyce Banda as well as the country's vice-president, Saulos Chilima, as his running mate.
Mr Chilima - who finished third in the 2019 vote - was once an ally of President Mutharika, but has since fallen out with him.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53207780.amp

Nlfpmod
Mynd44
Fergie001
Lotanna2
Ejimatic
Seunmsg

All these Obi supporters and their delusional mind eh

Anything politics news now na vawulence btw obedients and batist even the one happen at malawi.

Chai..

Though, the scenario in Malawi can be different from the systems and operations in Nigeria's political creature. Nigeria is at a fragile rigid state that such Malawian experience might burst into several violent activities leading to national anarchy.

Lexiskillz09:
All these Obi supporters and their delusional mind eh

LP winning Lagos sounded delusional till it happened for your koro koro eyes

hObi is cuming

Penguin2:
One of the arguments of the supporters of a certain political divide is that no court, anywhere in the world, has sacked a sitting president before. That’s why I found it pertinent to bring this judgment of the Supreme Court of Malawi (an African country) on 08 May, 2020, when it upheld the judgment of the Constitutional Court of Malawi that annulled the presidential election of the country.

In a unanimous judgment, the Supreme Court accused the Electoral Commission of taking sides when it chose to appeal the decision of the Constitutional Court.

The Constitutional Court had cited “widespread irregularities” as reason for the annulment.

Does one or two things ring a bell?


https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2020/5/8/malawi-court-rejects-presidents-appeal-against-poll-annulment

Nlfpmod
Mynd44

The apex court clearly said widespread irregularities.was there any in Nigeria?

So who later won the rerun election? Was it the same person the electoral body first (wrongly) declared winner, or another winner emerged? Na the thing wey I wan know be that.

All hail piiiiggs...

Depriest2020:
So who later won the rerun election? Was it the same person the electoral body first (wrongly) declared winner, or another winner emerged? Na the thing wey I wan know be that.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53207780.amp

I updated the thread to include that the opposition candidate later won the rerun but u can follow the link to read it up better.

Tinubu will remain as president.

The hallucinations and delusions of obi supporters are indicative of their mental state.

Hehehe.

Nigerian judge's left the WhatsApp group .

garfield1:


The apex court clearly said widespread irregularities.was there any in Nigeria?

Nigeria own was worse,Inec chairman had to announce the results by 4am when Nigerians were sleeping

Old Old News

Fake Breaking News

HIGHESTPOPORI:
Nigeria own was worse

In where and where

garfield1:


In where and where

Its presented in court already,you are not a court.

HIGHESTPOPORI:
Its presented in court already,you are not a court.

None of the witnesses testified to violence or rigging

garfield1:


The apex court clearly said widespread irregularities.was there any in Nigeria?

Was there none?

Or until there entire country is up in flames before you would accept there was widespread irregularities?

Meanwhile, you lots have seen that you have been wrong all along with the claim that “no court can sack a sitting president”.

A fellow African country, Kenya, was first to annul a presidential election in 2017.

In 2020, another African country, Malawi, followed suit. In this case, the opposition candidate won the rerun.

So, you see that it has happened before, and it will happen in Nigeria. But guess what…. This time the alleged winner won’t participate in the rerun because he shall have been disqualified.

Are they even saying anywhere in the world or in Nigeria.
Not their supporter though but when you find it in Nigeria, then you call us.
Nigeria case is different from other part of the world that's why what worked elsewhere don't always work in Nigeria.

Obiddiottt.

The Obiddiottts are all looking for country where their Presidential Election results is annulled to justify what exactly?


Deluded people

Christistruth03:
Old Old News

Fake Breaking News

If you had read my introduction, you would have seen that it was clearly stated there that it happened in 2020.

However, when it happened does not preclude its relevance to the current Nigerian situation.

I’m sure you must be disappointed to see that a court has sacked a sitting president before contrary to you people’s ignorant claim that no court has sacked a sitting president before. Huh?

Penguin2:

Was there none?

Or until there entire country is up in flames before you would accept there was widespread irregularities?

Meanwhile, you lots have seen that you have been wrong all along with the claim that “no court can sack a sitting president”.

A fellow African country, Kenya, was first to annul a presidential election in 2017.

In 2020, another African country, Malawi, followed suit. In this case, the opposition candidate won the rerun.

So, you see that it has happened before, and it will happen in Nigeria. But guess what…. This time the alleged winner won’t participate in the rerun because he shall have been disqualified.

Obi failed to prove widespread rigging like buhari did in 2007.

Good development

garfield1:


Obi failed to prove widespread rigging like buhari did in 2007.

In your estimation, how wide should irregularities be before it is widespread?

Penguin2:

If you had read my introduction, you would have seen that it was clearly stated there that it happened in 2020.

However, when it happened does not preclude its relevance to the current Nigerian situation.

I’m sure you must be disappointed to see that a court has sacked a sitting president before contrary to you people’s ignorant claim that no court has sacked a sitting president before. Huh?

So why did you put “Breaking “ in the Title before you changed it

It isn’t breaking news