Malawi opposition candidate takes lead in Presidential Election

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