/ 12 April 1999

ELECTORAL CHAOS IN MALAWI

MALAWI’S opposition has obtained a court injunction preventing the Electoral Commission from accepting nominations for upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections, a lawyer said Saturday.Lawyer Bazuka Mhango says the High Court granted the injunction on Friday to the opposition which wants the court to declare that the voter registration process which began last month was fraught with “irregularities”.The injunction pushes back the schedule for the country’s second multi-party elections due to be held on May 25, threatening to throw the electoral process into chaos.The commission said earlier this week that some 1.8 million people out of an estimated 4.5 eligible voters, have registered for the elections.