Early indications from Malawi’s presidential election, held on Tuesday, show that Lazarus Chakwera has unseated the incumbent, Peter Mutharika.
The state broadcaster, MBC, said that preliminary results had Chakwera leading with nearly 60% of the vote, with Mutharika on 38%. A third candidate, Peter Kuwani, was far behind the two leaders, with less than five percent of the vote.
The election had to be held after a presidential election held last year was declared invalid by the country’s courts because of widespread rigging and corruption.
Mutharika and governing party officials have tried to claim that the election had been stolen from them, with Mutharika claiming that there had been incidents of violence which threatened the integrity of the election.
Despite no official results being declared yet, a number of opposition political figures in Southern Africa congratulated Chakwera. Nelson Chamisa, the leader of the MDC in Zimbabwe, said ‘New life to Malawi’ and noted Chakwera’s devout Christianity.
Mmusi Maimane, the former leader of the Democratic Alliance, also expressed his support for Chakwera, congratulating his ‘friend, brother.’
Chakwera was the candidate of the Malawi Congress Party, which had governed the country as the sole legal political party from 1964 to 1994.