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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Kaïs Saïed’s first response to his election win has been to thank your Tunisians for turning a new page in the country’s history.

Saïed says that in the only democracy to have emerged from the 2011 Arab Spring confidence must be renewed between the people and their rulers.

Nabl Karoui says he’ll wait until the  electoral commission officially calls the results today  before deciding whether to contest the outcome.

The millionaire businessman and philanthropist spent all but the last four days of the campaign in jail awaiting trial on tax evasion  and money laundering charges.

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Nabil Karoui is one of the favorites in the field of 26 candidates.

Nabil Karoui prefers to present himself as a political outsider.

But that does not include campaigning from a jail cell where he has been since his arrest on August 23 to face charges of tax evasion and money laundering.

Tunisia’s electoral commission says he can run as long as he’s not convicted.

Karoui says he innocent and the charges he faces are politically inspired.

his supporters say his being in jail has not eroded his popularity as a philanthropist.

His  Nessma television channel has been barred from covering the election campaign.

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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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The country’s independent electoral commission announces he won four million votes more than he main opponent Atiku Abubaker who has rejected this result.

Muhammadu Buhari has his work cut out in his second term as Nigeria’s president .

He has to restore the country’s faltering economy that has still not recovered from a 2016 recession.

This will mean a more equitable distribution of Nigeria’s oil wealth

And he has urgently to address the Islamist insurgency that has made large parts of North East Nigeria ungovernable.

He has to keep his promise to fight corruption that has become endemic.

He also has to deal with growing rural violence between farmers and cattle herders they accuse of  destroying their land.

The post Muhammadu Buhari declared winner of Nigeria’s Presidential election appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

His opponent Atiku Abubaker has rejected this result that still has to be officially confirmed.

Reuters in Nigeria is reporting that Muhammadu Buhari won four million votes more than Atiku Abubaker in the Presidential election that was delayed for a week by operational problems.

The electoral commission will review the figures it has put out and deliver an official result.

Buhari has his work cut out.

He has to restore Nigeria’s faltering economy still not recovered from a 2016 recession.

And he has urgently to address the Islamist insurgency that has made large part of North East Nigeria ungovernable. 

The post Muhammadu Buhari has won a second term as Nigeria’s President appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Analysts say there is little chance of this happening but Fayulu is given full credit for insisting  his supporters keep their protests about a rigged election peaceful.

Martin Fayulu points to the Catholic Church, Western powers and even some prominent African leaders saying he won the Congolese presidential election convincingly.

In a letter to the African Union summit in Addis Ababa at the weekend, Fayulu cites  electoral commission vote tallies from the polling stations as further proof that  he won.

The post Martin Fayulu seeks African leaders’ support for a DRC election re-run appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Authorities in Kinshasa have prevented a rally by  Martin Fayulu who persists that he won the election.

Police removed the podium and speakers outside Martin Fayulu’s party headquarters where he was due to address supporters.

He’s refused President-elect Felix Tshisekedi’s invitation to work together because he maintains the election was stolen.

Invitations to Tshisekedi’s inauguration have been sent to foreign leaders.

It will be interesting to see who attends after the African Union, the European Union, France and Belgium have expressed serious doubts about the official results presented by the electoral commission and upheld by the constitutional court.

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The African Union, which says there are serious doubts about the figures presented to support Tshisekedi’s win, has scrapped plans to send a delegation to the Congo.

President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Keyatta say yesterday’s ruling by the Constitutional Court in Kinshasa confirms Felix Tshisekedi’s election win requires 

all actors to respect this exercise of DRC national sovereignty.

Martin Fayulu, who claims he won 60% of the vote calls on supporters to demonstrate peacefully against what he calls a constitutional coup d’etat.

The European Union has joined the African Union, France, Belgium and the Catholic bishops in casting doubt on the figures produced by the electoral commission in the DRC.

The post AU scraps plans to send an urgent post election delegation to DRC appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Presidential spokesperson Lambert Mende notes the court ruling and asserts that Tshisekedi will become the Congo’s fifth president.

Martin Fayulu, who’s claim to have won the election with 60% of the vote was thrown out by the Constitutional Court, appeals to Congolese and the international community to reject what he calls a constitutional coup d’etat.

Felix Tshisekedi says the ruling is a victory for the Congo because he has a program of reconciliation.

The African Union says there are serious problems with the figures and  urges the Kinshasa authorities to suspended announcing a final result.

France, Belgium and the Catholic Bishops all say the provisional result from the electoral commission do not tally with observers’ figures on the ground. 

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