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Malawi is only the second African country to annul a presidential election, after Kenya in 2017.
It is the first in which the opposition has won the repetition.
The initial vote in May 2019 had narrowly returned incumbent Peter Mutharika to the presidency.
But in February 2020, a landmark ruling by Malawi’s constitutional court overturned the result citing ‘widespread, systematic and serious’ irregularities, including the now infamous use of correction fluid in the counting of votes, and the inability of the Malawi Election Commission. (MEC) to address complaints before announcing results.
New elections were ordered in 150 days.
This led the opposition to win a replay of the Malawi presidential election in a historic first for the continent.
Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, a member of the NDC’s legal team and legislator, said the NDC is gathering its documents and will present a case in various courts before December 30.
Akufo-Addo reportedly got 51.59 percent of valid presidential votes against his top contender and former President John Dramani Mahama, who reportedly got 47.36 percent of presidential votes.
It will be interesting to see if the NDC case leads to a third historic ruling on the continent given that our Electoral Commission admitted the anomalies that they corrected in relation to the elections.
Perhaps the NDC will present a case regarding more anomalies that our courts cannot ignore.
The only thing that will lead to presidential and parliamentary reinstatements in Ghana is “widespread, systematic and serious” irregularities, and the failure of the Ghana Election Commission to address the complaints before announcing the results. “
In such a case, our judiciary will have no choice but to call a new presidential election and possible parliamentary reinstatements within 150 days of its decision.
Although the appointment of 11 Supreme Court justices by Mr. Nana Akufo-Addo in the last 2 years would be enough for any political party to think twice before seeking redress in the Supreme Court of Ghana; The NDC case regarding elections may well prove whether there is a case to answer in terms of gross and systematic widespread irregularities.
Our judges will have to rule accordingly.
