Malawi awaits election results after rivals claim victory

Malawians are waiting for the results of Tuesday's presidential election with most votes now counted in a race closely fought between President Lazarus Chakwera and challenger Peter Mutharika.

The parties of the two candidates claimed victory each, drawing a warning from the electoral commission, which has yet to announce results.

However, the Malawi Electoral Commission said it had counted more than 99% of the votes but had not declared any results and cautioned against any premature declaration of victory.

‘’The commission will not hurry the results management process just because some political party leaders and candidates are piling up pressure," the chairperson of the electoral body, Justice Annabel Mtalimanja, said.

Election officials must declare the results of the presidential election within seven days of polling stations closing, according to Malawi’s electoral law.

50% of vote

There are 17 presidential candidates and more than seven million registered voters in the elections. If no presidential candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, there will be a runoff election between the top two contenders.

Chakwera, 70, and Mutharika, 85, were also the leading candidates in the last elections held in 2019.

At that time, Mutharika was the incumbent. He was declared the winner of the elections only for a court to nullify the results months later citing irregularities.

After a rerun of the elections in 2020, he lost to Chakwera, the current president. Mutharika had served for six years.

Malawi, a country of 21 million people, is rich in minerals, including coal, limestone, bauxite, and marble. Each of the presidential candidates has promised to improve the economy.