Election case delays again

Hearing of the election case Thursday also faced technical setback as the case commenced in the afternoon hours beyond agreed time of 10 o’clock in the morning.

On Wednesday, the court also failed to conduct the proceedings after Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) failed to complete set up of its system and server that sixth and final witness of Malawi Congress Party, Daud Suleman, requested through the court.

There was heavy presence of security officers from both Malawi Defence Force and Malawi Police Services who were deployed to man the premises.

Yesterday’s hearing also attracted a large turnout of people who are keenly following the case. Some were not allowed to have access into the chamber due to space limitation and were forced to follow the proceedings outside the court.

Due to continued technical glitches, the court earlier shifted the case to 2 o’clock in the afternoon as Sulemani was reported to have been checking the server if it had all he needed to undertake his simulation and demonstration of the evidence.

However, hearing of the case started as late at 15:45 in the afternoon.

Yesterday, the court gave directions on how Suleman would undertake his simulation and demonstration.

The court, among others, allowed the witness to connect his computers to Mec’s system for demonstration on the hypothesis that Mec system will not work due to deleted data.

“The court directs that he [Suleman] will be allowed to connect to Mec’s system on condition that he demonstrates in court that the system did not work as hypothesised,” reads the direction.

The court also allowed the witness to use PowerPoint presentation as part of his demonstration.