By Chisomo Phiri
High Court judge Mandala Mambulasa on Monday reserved ruling to Friday, October 25, 2024, in the case in which five people are seeking an injunction to stop the operation of Section 12 of the Parliamentary, Presidential and Local Government Elections Act.
In the courtroom before reserving the case, former Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale, representing the claimants, argued that Section 12 of the PPGLE Act contradicts Section 77 of the Malawi Constitution by requiring people to present a national ID before registering as voters.
He asked the court to follow the law in Section 5 of the Constitution, which states that any law and act of Government or any law that is inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution shall, to the extent of such inconsistency, be invalid.
Another lawyer representing the claimants, Felix Tambulasi, said the claimants do not want an injunction to stop the voter registration, which commenced on Monday, but are seeking a temporary suspension of Section 12 of the PPGLE Act so that the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) should allow other forms of identification for voter registration.
However, one of the lawyers for MEC, Matumika Banda, said the commission is required to comply with the law when conducting elections, and currently, the law states that a person registering as a voter should present proof of national registration.
He argued that he does not see why the court should be compelled to grant an injunction when the five claimants can go to the National Registration Bureau (NRB) center and register for national IDs before registering as voters.
The act mandates MEC to accept a national ID as the sole identification for voter registration.
The five claimants in the case are George Chipwaila, Geofrey Banda, Alex Phillip Dimba, James Chitsulo, and Crino Masulani.
