Malawi’s Constitutional Court will on Monday rule on whether to annul the presidential election result that got President Peter Mutharika re-elected with 38 per cent of the vote in May 2019.
Runner-up Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), who lost by just 159,000 votes, alleges he was robbed of victory.
Chakwera and Saulos Chilima who is the leader of the United Transformation Movement (UTM), have petitioned the courts to annul the poll.
Protestors, who have been violent in some instances, have demanded the resignation of the electoral commission chief.
Last month Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda claimed bribes had been offered to the five judges presiding over the case.
Both Chakwera and Chilima have implored their supporters to maintain peace and accept the court’s decision, regardless of the outcome.
This is the first time a presidential election has been challenged on legal grounds in Malawi since independence from Britain in 1964.