{"id":31606,"date":"2026-04-12T13:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T11:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=31606"},"modified":"2026-04-12T13:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T11:41:10","slug":"malawi-electoral-body-heads-back-to-court-over-relocation-dispute","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/malawi-electoral-body-heads-back-to-court-over-relocation-dispute\/","title":{"rendered":"Malawi electoral body heads back to court over relocation dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A legal standoff between the government of Malawi and the Malawi Electoral Commission is set to return to court, amid a dispute over the relocation of the commission\u2019s headquarters.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>At the centre of the row is the commission\u2019s refusal to move from Lilongwe to Blantyre, despite a directive issued by President Peter Mutharika.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Shortly after taking office in October 2025, Mutharika ordered that the electoral body, along with several other state institutions, relocate within three months.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>However, the commission challenged the directive in the High Court, arguing that it undermines its constitutional independence. The court dismissed the application in February this year on procedural grounds.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Malawi Electoral Commission now says it will pursue fresh legal action against the state, setting the stage for another round in the ongoing dispute.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12526,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-31606","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"A legal standoff between the government of Malawi and the Malawi Electoral Commission is set to return to court","published_date":"","news_description":"A legal standoff between the government of Malawi and the Malawi Electoral Commission is set to return to court","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31607,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31606\/revisions\/31607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=31606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}