Malawi's electoral chief quits ahead of polls
Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) boss Jane Ansah resigned on Thursday, a month before the country holds a court-ordered presidential election re-run.
The poor southern African country must hold fresh polls after the Constitutional Court overturned the results of last year's controversial election, which handed President Peter Mutharika a second term.
Ansah has since been the target of nationwide protests calling for her to go over her handling of disputed election.
"I have written the appointing authority (the president) that I have decided to step down," she told the state broadcaster in an interview.
Leading human rights activists had been planning a fresh wave of protests next week to force Ansah to step down.
But Ansah denied she was giving in to pressure.
"I have fought a good fight and I go happy," he said.
"I have worked with clean hands and I have no skeletons in my cupboard".
Ansah's resignation comes exactly one year after last year's elections which were annulled by the top court due to widespread irregularities and use of correction fluid.
The court ordered that a fresh election be held within 150 days of its February 3 ruling.
The electoral commission had initially set July 2, which was day 149 since the ruling but has since brought the date forward to June 23.
Human rights defender Gift Trapence welcomed Ansah's resignation.
"This is what Malawians have been wanting all along," Trapence told AFP. "But we also want all the commissioners to go so that a new MEC can be constituted to allow the country to hold free and credible elections," he said.
Mutharika's spokesman said he needed more time to verify that r Ansah's resignation letter had reached the president.