Judge Kenyatta Nyerende granted an inunction blocking the 21-day lockdown due to come into effect today because there were insufficient measures to cushion the country’s poor.

Malawian authorities have rounded on Judge Kenyatta calling him unpatriotic.

President Peter Mutharika says Malawi, which has had two confirmed coronavirus deaths could lose 50 000 if the virus takes hold.

It’s because he did to outline a social safety net that the Malawi Human Rights Defence Commission took the matter to court

Malawi is one of the poorest countries on the planet. More than  half the 18-million population live below the poverty threshold.

The injunction is temporary. An inter-party hearing will be held within days.

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The United Nations is calling for immediate investigation of a dozen killings driven by this macabre belief.

UN resident coordinator in Malawi Maria Jose Torres says in addition probing the killings, authorities must arrest and prosecute the perpetrators, provide psychological and medical support for the victims and dispel the harmful belief in bloodsuckers that has led to the deaths.

President  Peter Mutharika has linked the bloodsucker killings in the south and centre of his country to those of albinos who are murdered because their bones allegedly have magical properties.

Facing a re-run election next month, Mutharika’s  accused his political opposition of perpetuating the vampire fears to create alarm among voters.

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This casts into doubt the central African country’s ability to organise new elections in July as ordered by the the Constitutional Court.

The Malawian who has tested positive for coronavirus travelled to India  Two people who came into contact with him have also tested positive.

President Peter Mutharika declared a state of emergency  last month that closed the country’s borders.

The second term he won at the helm has been overturned by the Constitutional Court that found the elections last May were fraudulent.

Malawi’s electoral commission has announced new elections in early July.

It remains to be seen whether these can be organized with the COVID 19 pandemic raging around the the world.

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A re-run must now take place within five months.

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The Constitutional Court upheld the finds of widespread irregularities in the elections last year.

It rejected President Peter Mutharika’s appeal that would have it suspend the judgement ordering a  new poll.

The court further rejected the claim by the Electoral Commission that holding another election will be too expensive.

Democracy is costly, the judges found, but the will of the people is paramount.

Analysts say there would have been a coup if the heavily disputed election  result had been upheld.

Mutharika has yet to commit to contest a re-run.

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The lawyer and professor, who has been President since 2014, will appeal the ruling.

Peter Muthgarika’s been left at the helm in Malawi by the court that ordered election rerun within 150 days.

With likely delays in court proceedings, Mutharika could stay in power for more than the proposed six months.

He’s lambasted what he calls a vindictive ruling by the court attacking the very foundations of democracy in Malawi.

He insists the elections were not rigged.

However the court found widespread irregularities rendering it null and void and necessitating a fresh election.

Question is will he run again if he loses his appeal.

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His spokesman calls the unanimous decision by the country’s five top judges a serious miscarriage of justice and an attack on the foundations of Malawi’s democracy.

Peter Mutharika has six weeks to appeal the Constitutional Court ruling that Malawi must hold new elections within 150 days.

He’s been left in charge of the country torn by six months of hearings and violent demonstrations.

His main opponent Lazarus Chakwera , who claims he won the election, has hailed the ruling as a victory for democracy.

The court found massive and widespread irregularities in last May’s elections, including the use of typewriter correction fluid to alter results sheets.

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President Peter Mutharika will stay in power until then.

The Constitutional Court found there had been widespread irregularities in Malawi’s Presidential election last year.

Peter Mutharika won a second term in that poll with a margin of 160 000 votes.

Second placed Lazarus Chakwere maintains he won.

Third placed Saulos Chilima also cried foul.

The annulment is the second in African history.

Kenya’s Supreme Court, citing irregularities,  annulled the August 2017 election won by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

It ordered the appointment of a new electoral commission.

Kenyatta won the re-run in October after his main opponent Raila Odinga withdrew.

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The decision by the five judges could become the second time an African court has ordered a fresh election because of irregularities.

President Peter Mutharika has been dubbed the Tipp Ex President because of correcting fluid used to change results figures  in last year’s election.

Persistent demonstrations since then have become increasingly violent, prompting former President Joyce Banda to say Malawi is burning.

Saulus Chilima, a losing candidate who claims to have won the presidency,  says the the demonstrations are merely a warm up for the protests that will occur if the court rules in Mutharika’s favour. 

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There has been looting by the protestors demanding the sacking of the electoral commission head they claim helped President Peter Mutharika rig the result.

Malawi’s opposition parties maintain typewriter correction fluid was used to change figures on results sheets from the May election won by Peter Mutharika with 38,6 % of the vote.

Lazarus Chakwera, who quit as Deputy President because he says Mutharika did not effectively fight corruption, maintains he won the election.

Soldiers have been deployed on the streets of Blantyre and Lilongwe to prevent looting, but companies including South Africa’s Multichoice have boarded up their shops as a precaution.

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