MALAWIAN PARLIAMENT AMENDS CONSTITUTION

THE Malawian meets in the capital Lilongwe on Friday to amend the constitution in order to pave way for a new date for the rescheduled presidential and parliamentary elections. A bill has already been discussed and approved by cabinet, giving a symbolic official stamp to the extraordinary parliament sitting which president Bakili Muluzi and speaker of the National Assembly Rodwell Munyenyembe called earlier in the week. The approval came after a court had already ordered the Muluzi government to postpone the poll due to irregularities during the registration exercise. The court action was brought after opposition and diplomats’ appeals had failed to convince Muluzi to change the polling date due to the messy registration which one lawyer described as “systematic legal rigging” by the Malawi Electoral Commission on behalf of the ruling United Democratic Front party.