Malawi opposition leader wins presidential vote re-run

Malawi’s opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera won this week’s presidential election re-run with 58.57 percent of the vote, the electoral commission said Saturday.

And on Saturday, electoral commission chairman Chifundo Kachale told journalists: “The commission declares that Lazarus Chakwera, having attained 58.57 percent of the vote, has been duly elected as the president of Malawi.”

The announcement was met with loud cheers and applause as opposition supporters waved Malawi’s red, black and green flag and chanted “Government!” in local Chichewa.

It was a dramatic reversal of fortune for the incumbent, Peter Mutharika, whose victory in the May 2019 election was overturned by the Constitutional Court, citing widespread fraud.

In February, Malawi’s top court found the first election had been marred by widespread irregularities, including the use of correction fluid to tamper with result sheets.

The landmark ruling made Malawi just the second African country south of the Sahara to have presidential poll results set aside, after Kenya in 2017.