Malawi gov't teeters as court rules against president

Malawi's top court on Friday dealt a blow to President Bingu wa Mutharika, upholding a ruling which could strip his party of almost all of its parliamentary seats and make it hard to legislate government business.

The Supreme Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling which would prevent legislators who defected to wa Mutharika's breakaway Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) from taking their seats.

The ruling, which wa Mutharika had challenged, could leave the DPP with as few as five MPs in Malawi's 193-seat parliament, now firmly controlled by allied opposition parties United Democratic Front (UDF) and Malawi Congress Party (MCP).

"While the Constitution of Malawi provides for freedom of association and freedom to hold political opinion, MPs who leave their parties betray the electorate and their parties and must seek fresh mandate through by elections," Chief Justice Leonard Unyolo said in his ruling.

MCP supporters went into a frenzy, dancing and singing party songs soon after the ruling, the latest in a series of political ructions to hit the impoverished southern African country.

"It's a victory for democracy. The ruling has brought sanity among our MPs and this will help bring political sanity in the country," said lawyer for the opposition, Kalekeni Kaphale.

Boniface Dulani, a political analyst at University of Malawi said the ruling seriously weakened wa Mutharika, who has been fighting long and bitter political battles since leaving the UDF and forming his own party after becoming president in 2004.

"The president has been trying to gain power in parliament but with this ruling, he will face an uphill battle in passing government business in the House," Dulani said.

Close to 70 legislators, including cabinet ministers and deputy ministers who joined the DPP could lose their seats if parliament's speaker acts on proposals already put forward by the opposition.

The UDF and MCP already control 115 seats in the legislature and the court ruling looks to give them the necessary two-thirds majority needed to pass measures including constitutional ammendments.

Wa Mutharika's chief political advisor Heatherwick Ntaba said the DPP could still retain the seats through by-elections because wa Mutharika is a popular president.

Wa Mutharika has been pitted against his former mentor and predecessor as president, Bakili Muluzi, whose UDF has joined the MCP in seeking to impeach him on graft allegations and abuse of office.

Last month the two parties threatened to derail any government business in parliament including a rejection of the 2007/08 national budget unless wa Mutharika stopped poaching their MPs and explained overspending by his administration.