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stakeholders, the 2nd Respondent maintained its attitude of not wanting to do anything about the problems reported to it by the Malawi Congress Party’. THE ADMINISTRA TION OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS 15. THAT the Republic of Malawi is administratively divided into 28 districts and for election purposes: 15.1. each of the districts has a District Commissioner which is an office established under the Local Government Act and the person who occupies the said office is the head of the secretariat at even’ District Council. 15.2. the 2nd Respondent divided the geographical area of each district into electoral constituencies and there is a total of 193 constituencies in Malawi. 16. THAT the electoral system in Malawi is organized in a pyramidal structure as follows: 16.1. at the bottom are the polling stations which are found within each constituency where the voting actually takes place; 16.2. in the middle are the Constituencies to which polling stations results are submitted at the Constituency Result Centres; 16.3. above the Constituency Centres come the Districts to which Constituency Results are submitted at the District Results Centre; 16.4. at the top is the National Tally Centre of the 2nd Respondent which for this election was housed in the city' of Blantyre at Chichiri International Conference Centre also known as COMESA Hall. Unique Identification Codes 17. THAT unique bar codes and Centre numbers were allocatedfor: 15

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Mutharika v. Chilima

Judgment

Question Presented: Whether the standard that candidate must receive a majority of the votes means the highest percentage of votes or over 50%?

Alleged Acts: During the May 2019 election Presidential candidate Mutharika obtained 38.57% of the vote, Chilima obtained 20.24%, and Chakwera obtained 35.41% of the vote. No single individual one over 50% of the vote. The petitioners allege that the election winner must have ascertained over 50% of the vote.

Procedural history: The lower court determined that the precedent from the Chakuamba case failed to rely on facts or precedent. Accordingly, the lower court modified this standard and determined that the majority meant 50% or more of the vote in compliance with the rest of the Malawi constitution. The court further looked to the Black's Law Dictionary definition for majority and determined that the first-past-the-post system was inconsistent with the term majority as set forth. The President of Malawi was not duly elected and the new election must be held in accordance with the PPEA. The May 2019 election is declared nullified. In order to ascertain the presidency, the candidate must have more than 50% of the vote, rather than the previous plurality requirement. The appeal encompasses all aspects of the prior case.

Summary: The Supreme Court validated the Constitutional Court's invalidation of the May 2019 election. The court rejected the appeals stating that shift to a majority (plus one) was constitutional. The court criticized the grounds for appeal as fictitious.

Conclusion: Parliament has the power to set a time for new elections, not the Electoral Commission. The court may not extend the prior government.

Legal Issue(s)

Voting Systems (Winner-take-all, proportional, etc.)

Applicable Law(s): Malawi Const. 41, 43, 67, 80.

Region: Africa

Country: Malawi

Language of Decision

English

Court: Supreme Court

Election Type: General

Date of decision: May 8, 2020

Geolocation

Latitude: -13.99301908

Longitude: 33.75071344

: Geolocation

Primary Documents

Prof Arthur Peter Mutharika and Electoral Commission Vs Dr Saulos K Chilima and Dr Lazarus M Chakwera MSCA Constitutional Appeal No 01 of 2020.pdf
English
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Election Judgments - IFES

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Mutharika v. Chilima

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