Opposition leads in Malawi election rerun

Malawi’s opposition leader, Lazarus Chakwera, is set to win the country’s historic presidential election re-run, pulling ahead of current President Peter Mutharika by 60.65% of the vote to Mutharika’s 38.6%. 

Unofficial polling data posted online confirmed the lead of Mr Chakwera’s Malawi Congress Party over the incumbent DPP. A third contender for the presidency, Peter Kuwani, trails behind at just 1.6% of the vote.

However, the Malawi Electoral Commission has warned voters against relying on these unofficial results. The Commission said it had only received results from eight of the 5,008 polling centres by Wednesday night. It has until next week to announce the official results.

The hotly contested election followed a ruling by Malawi’s constitutional court which annulled President Mutharika’s narrow victory in last May’s poll. 

The court heard evidence from opposition candidates alleging widespread voter fraud, including the use of Tippex on ballot papers. 

This week’s rerun saw over 6.8 million people registered to vote, which experts described as an “impressive” turnout. 

Some sources reported outbreaks of violence on polling day, however analysts believe the process was largely peaceful. 

Photo: AFP