Court nullifies Malawi president's poll victory

Malawi's constitutional court on Monday nullified the results of the country's presidential elections held in May last year.

The ruling was delivered by a five-judge panel, chaired by Justice Healy Potani, that sat in the national capital Lilongwe.

Potani, reading out the ruling, declared as invalid the results that saw incumbent Peter Mutharika named president for a second term of the southeast African country.

"We hold that the first respondent was not duly elected as president of Malawi," Potani said. "As a result, we hereby order nullification of the elections. We further order that a fresh election be held in accordance with the law and pursuant to directions we will make."

The court ordered the Malawi Electoral Commission to hold the poll within 150 days.

In the May elections, Mutharika was declared the winner with 38.6 percent of the vote. Opposition candidate Lazarus Chakwera went to court to argue that he was the rightful winner.

In the official results, Chakwera obtained 35.4 percent of the vote as the flag bearer for the Malawi Congress Party. Saulos Chilima, a former ally of the president who came third with 20.2 percent, also challenged the election results.

The ruling is a culmination of court proceedings that lasted more than three months and which were keenly followed by citizens across Malawi.

Following the ruling, Malawi's former president Bakili Muluzi urged calm as the country is preparing for new elections.

In a statement, he said: "May I thank the people of Malawi for the peaceful way they have conducted themselves and urge them to carry on in the same spirit. This conduct has been noticed not just here in Africa but around the world."

Tibor Nagy, assistant secretary for the US Department of State's Bureau of African Affairs, called for Malawians to accept the decision of the court.

Otiato Opali in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed to this story.