High Court in Lilongwe has ruled to continue with the elections case and rejected the request by President Peter  Mutharika to throw out the case.

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president Lazarus Chakwera and UTM Party president Saulos Chilima Saulos Chilima are challenging the outcome of the May 21 polls in which President Peter Mutharika was declared winner thereby securing another five-year term for his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Opposition supporters – who have  been holding protests  calling on the president to resign on the grounds the elections were rigged – waited at the court to hear the ruling delivered in the evening.

They started jubiliating when news flirted out of the court the the five-member judges panel allowed the court to proceed hearing the elections petition.

Private practice lawyer Frank Mbeta, who is representing President Mutharika, e had applied on behalf of the president  – the first respondent in the case – for the challenge to the election result to be dismissed on the grounds that the petitions filed by Chakwera and Chilima were irregular as they had not paid sufficient court fees.

The case will start on June 26, 2019.