Malawi\u2019s Supreme Court has upheld the invalidation of last year’s presidential election results and ruled that Peter Mutharika was not duly elected.<\/p>\n
In February, the Constitutional Court nullified the results after the opposition parties challenged them.<\/p>\n
Mr Mutharika had been announced the winner of last May’s election with 38.5% of the vote. Opposition party leader Lazarus Chakwera came second with 35.41%.<\/p>\n
But the Constitutional Court judges ruled that the vote was marred by irregularities, and ordered a new election.<\/p>\n
In Friday’s ruling the Supreme Court also agreed with the Constitutional Court that none of the candidates had obtained a majority of votes.<\/p>\n
Justice of Appeal Frank Kapanda said the court found the extent of irregularities in the May elections were “not only serious but also troubling”.<\/p>\n
The court also criticised the Attorney General as acting in a way that was not consistent with the constitution.<\/p>\n
It further said the 150-day transition period between the lower court ruling and the election re-run in July was unnecessarily long.<\/p>\n
Since the disputed results were announced there have been regular anti-government protests. Some of these have resulted in looting and the destruction of property, including government offices.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, a mother and her son died after an opposition office was petrol-bombed while they were asleep in the same building.<\/p>\n
Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n