Malawi Court Rejects Banda's Bid to Halt Result Publication

Malawi's high court has thrown out President Joyce Banda's application to block the release of election results, as counting continued at a snail's pace three days after the chaotic vote began.

Banda's People's Party (PP) had alleged that "figures that are coming from the districts tally centers are not matching with the number of voters from different polling stations because the system has been hacked," according to a court affidavit.

But in the ruling obtained by AFP on Friday, Judge Mike Tembo rejected the bid as "premature since official results are not yet out."

Banda on Thursday claimed "serious irregularities" in this week's highly charged election, saying people had voted multiple times, ballots had been tampered with, presiding officers arrested, and the computerized voter counting system had collapsed.

However, observers have so far noted "considerable organizational shortcomings" but little sign of rigging.

The country's electoral commission chief Maxon Mbendera earlier rebuffed Banda's request for an audit of the votes, telling AFP the president's claims were a sign of her "desperation".

Three days after Tuesday's vote no official results have been released and the southern African country's 28 districts are sending results manually via fax and email.

By midday on Friday only 12 percent of the votes had been counted, according to Mbendera, who added that the presidential polls were being prioritized.

Around 7.5 million people were eligible to cast their ballots for a new president, lawmakers and local government councilors in the fifth democratic polls since the end of decades of one-party rule in 1994.

"The arrival of results has been slow, but we have captured into our system over 12 percent of the poll. We are expanding staff to speed up data entry," Mbendera told a news conference.

He pledged to have final results within eight days of the start of the vote, with the first figures expected when tallying reached 30 percent of the ballots.

"We will not be hurried to announce the results. We want to ensure we are exact and every complaint is resolved," he said, adding that 135 complaints had been received.

Voting was extended from Tuesday through to Thursday when delays of up to 10 hours prompted riots in the commercial capital Blantyre, where the army was deployed.

This is the first major electoral test for the 64-year-old president, who came to power when her predecessor, Bingu wa Mutharika, died in office two years ago.

Unconfirmed results in local media say Peter Mutharika, brother of the late president, is in the lead.

A Banda-allied junior minister committed suicide on Thursday, apparently under the impression he had lost his constituency.

After Mutharika's corruption-tainted rule, Banda initially was a darling of the West as one of Africa's rare women leaders.

But her government has since been ensnared in a $30 million (22 million euros) government corruption scandal dubbed "Cashgate" that has seen foreign donors freeze badly needed aid.

Former foreign minister Mutharika, 74, was allowed to run in the election despite facing a trial for treason after allegedly trying to prevent Banda from taking power.