Chief Resident Magistrate Patrick Chirwa has granted bail to 12 presiding officers who are each answering a count of falsifying election results tally sheet figure documents.

Among the bail conditions, they should never leave Lilongwe District without prior notice of police, report to police headquarters every fortnight and that each has to pay a cash bond of K50, 000.

The State has since asked for three weeks after which it will parade 16 witnesses against the accused, who have all pleaded not guilty.

The presiding officers who were hired by Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) to manage elections in Lilongwe City Center Constituency, are accused of having committed the offence on 21 May, 2019.