BLANTYRE,
Malawi
Malawi Presidential candidate for the opposition Tonse Alliance, Lazarus Chakwera appears to be heading for a win as unofficial results for the 2020 Fresh Presidential Elections keep trickling in.
Opposition
Malawi Congress Party leader Lazarus Chakwera addresses supporters after a
court annulled the May 2019 presidential vote that declared Peter Mutharika a
winner, in Lilongwe, Malawi |
Chakwera, in the unofficial results, has taken a dominant
lead over President Peter Mutharika of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
Unofficial results from 188 of 193 constituencies
have shown that Chakwera is leading with 58.9% of the votes. Mutharika
has 38.9% while Peter Kuwani of Mbwakuwaku Movement for Development has 1.3%.
In Lilongwe, Chakwera Lilongwe has amassed 644,730
votes, Mutharika has got 68,888 while Kuwani has only managed 2,066.
Chakwera is also leading Mutharika by a wide margin
in Ntchisi, Dowa, Kasungu and Mchinji – which are strongholds for Chakwera’s
Malawi Congress Party.
Mutharika has, however, received more votes in
districts such as Blantyre, Mangochi and Mchinga which are in the Southern
Regions.
In Mangochi, unofficial total results for all the
twelve constituencies show that Mutharika has 195,531 votes, Chakwera has
33,293 votes while Kuwani has 2,630 votes.
In Blantyre, Mutharika has amassed 158,075 of the
votes followed by Chakwera who has 142,989. Peter Kuwani has managed 1844.
Malawians voted in the Fresh Presidential Elections
on Tuesday. The Malawi Electoral Commission is mandated to announce final
results of the polls within eight days from Wednesday.
At a news conference late on Wednesday, Electoral
Commission chairman Chifundo Kachale urged Malawians to be patient and await
the official results, which he said were taking time because they wanted to get
“a credible record.”
“We are doing it manually. We’ll use records from
district tally centres and district commissioners, not social media. Our appeal
to Malawians is to be patient,” Kachale said.
If Chakwera does win, it would mean a dramatic
reversal of the previous discredited result which handed the presidency to
Mutharika. Some in the main city Blantyre and other parts of the country were
already erupting into celebration.
Tuesday’s vote has been seen as a test of the ability of African courts to tackle ballot fraud and restrain presidential power, ever since Malawi’s judiciary infuriated Mutharika in February by overturning the result of last year’s poll. His disputed win also triggered months of street protests. - Malawi.24
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