Elections: Malawi Braces For Historic Presidential Rerun - Liberty TV/Radio - News - Voice For All! Vision For Alll!
Iliya Auta
June 22, 2020
Malawians are expected to return to the polls on Tuesday for a rerun of the Presidential election five months after the Constitutional Court cancelled the results of a disputed vote last year.
Incumbent President, Peter Mutharika had, earlier been declared the winner of the May 2019 election with a slim victory of 38.5 per cent. But opposition leaders challenged the results in Court citing enormous abnormalities which the Judges nullified the results in February and ordered a repeat of the election.
The opposition has now united under a single candidate and will take on President Mutharika – who is running for a second term in office.
The chairperson of the country’s electoral commission also stepped down and a new team to oversee the election has been put in place.
In similar vain, the chairman of the African Union commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, has called on President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta and opposition groups to work together to end the political crisis in the country. Opposition groups are calling for President Keïta to resign because of escalating insurgents and inter-communal violence in the country. The AU chief, in a statement, commended the peaceful character of the protests and encouraged both government and opposition to “avoid the use of violence in any form.