The Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) is seeking legal advice from the office of the Attorney General (AG) on the ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal that there should be a re-run in Lilongwe City South East Constituency.
The court made the ruling on March 6 following a complaint by Malawi Congress Party (MCP) candidate, Ulemu Msungama, that there were serious anomalies in the election.
Msungama had initially asked for a recount of the votes but the warehouse where the ballots were being kept was gutted by fire, making the proposed recount impossible. He then appealed for a re-run which was granted by the Supreme Court.
Parliament’s Chief Public Relations Officer, Leonard Mengezi, also recently told The Daily Times that they will seek legal advice on the re-run.
In a recent press statement, Mec also indicated that it was putting in place measures to hold the election re-run but needs to critically study the court judgment and electoral laws before taking action.
But Attorney General, Kalekeni Kaphale, yesterday said he has only received a verbal communication on the matter from the country’s electoral body.
“I have only received one verbal request for a legal opinion from the electoral commission. I have asked them to put the question in writing and once again I should be able to offer legal advice in 14 days,” he said.
Kaphale said there has been no request of the same nature from Parliament secretariat on the matter.
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