Malawi: opponent Lazarus Chakwera elected president

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Opponent Lazarus Chakwera wins the presidential election, according to the electoral commission. Is this the end of a long electoral battle? Even before the validation of these results, the defeated ruling party denounced irregularities. Malawians were called to the polls on Tuesday to replay the 2019 presidential election, a year after the disputed election of President Peter Mutharika.

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The Malawi electoral commission validated this Saturday the results which had already been circulating for a few days. Opponent Lazarus Chakwera, defeated in 2019, is elected president of Malawi with almost 60% of the vote.

But even before this official validation, the camp of the outgoing president denounced, a few hours ago, fraud . There would have been intimidation and irregularities which would make this week's presidential election "  inconclusive,  " said the party of the outgoing president.

It is therefore the result of a long electoral battle. Because a year ago , after a first presidential election, the party of the opponent Lazarus Chakwera had seized the Constitutional Court. The high court had then invalidated the results due to "  generalized and systematic irregularities  " and ordered the holding of a new poll, that of Tuesday. It is the second time that a country in sub-Saharan Africa has canceled a presidential election. Kenya had already done so in 2017.

But will there be a third ballot in Malawi? President Peter Mutharika's party has called for a new vote.

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