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Malawi counted votes on Wednesday following general elections overshadowed by soaring costs and persistent fuel shortages that defined outgoing President Lazarus Chakwera’s tenure.
The country’s frail economy, among the weakest globally, dominated Tuesday’s polls. Front-runner and former president Peter Mutharika pledged solutions and a “return to proven leadership”.
About 70 per cent of Malawi’s 21 million citizens live in poverty, the World Bank reported. The economy relies heavily on tobacco exports and rain-fed farming, leaving it exposed to climate shocks, including a 2024 drought and a devastating cyclone in 2023.
A chronic foreign exchange shortage has restricted imports of fuel, food and fertiliser.
Despite these challenges, Tuesday’s presidential, parliamentary and local elections ran largely smoothly. Early figures from the election authority showed that over 64 per cent of 7.2 million registered voters cast ballots.
To secure outright victory in the presidential race, a candidate must win more than 50 per cent of the votes, raising the prospect of a run-off.
Observers identified Chakwera’s main challenger as 85-year-old Mutharika, a retired law professor who governed from 2014 to 2020. He lost power to Chakwera in a 2020 rerun after courts nullified the disputed 2019 polls, ruling that vote tallies had been altered with correction fluid.
While many voters demanded change, others remained open to giving Chakwera, 70, another term to address inflation exceeding 27 per cent.
Provisional results were expected after Thursday, with the election authority required to publish verified results within eight days of voting.
