Dan Banik speaks with Edge Kanyongolo on the wider implications of the High Court's landmark ruling in February 2020 that annulled the 2019 presidential elections in Malawi.
In a landmark ruling in February of this year, Malawi’s High Court concluded that the country’s president Peter Mutharika was “not duly elected”. The Court thus annulled the May 2019 elections in Malawi citing massive irregularities. It ordered new elections within five months and concluded that the Malawi Electoral Commission had failed to carry out its responsibilities according to the constitution and electoral law.Â
The lengthy, meticulously detailed, and unanimous ruling by the five judges has attracted widespread international acclaim. The court ruling followed numerous protests organized throughout the country after the May 2019 elections.Â
Edge Kanyongolo is an Associate professor at the Department of Law at Chancellor College, University of Malawi.Â
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In a landmark ruling in February of this year, Malawi’s High Court concluded that the country’s president Peter Mutharika was “not duly elected”. The Court thus annulled the May 2019 elections in Malawi citing massive irregularities. It ordered new elections within five months and concluded that the Malawi Electoral Commission had failed to carry out its responsibilities according to the constitution and electoral law.Â
The judges also highlighted fundamental challenges that have long plagued Malawi’s first-past-the-post electoral system. They ruled that the longstanding practice in Malawi of applying a simple plurality standard to determine the winner of presidential elections was contrary to the majority principle enshrined in the country’s constitution. In what some considered to be a welcome surprise, the judges argued in favour of amending the law so that a winning candidate should achieve an absolute majority of 50 per cent plus one votes.
The lengthy, meticulously detailed and unanimous ruling by the five judges has attracted widespread acclaim within Malawi and abroad. With the exception of one case in Kenya, it is not normal for courts in Africa to annul election results even when there is evidence of massive irregularities. Once results are announced it is often taken for granted that no court would overturn them.
This particular court ruling in Malawi followed numerous protests organised throughout the country after the May 2019 election. And these protests played a crucial part in the overall scheme of things. Indeed, mass demonstrations held over nine months signalled to the judiciary and the international community that Malawi had changed. The clear message was that Malawians were no longer willing to simply accept a fate handed out to them.
To discuss the implications of this historic case is my guest today, Edge Kanyongolo, perhaps Malawi’s most well-known law professor. Over the years, I have had numerous interactions with Edge at the University of Malawi’s Chancellor College and I have learnt much from him about the links between law and development.
I began by asking Edge to help us better understand the essential features of this landmark ruling.