"Malawians have voted in an 85-year-old former leader over an incumbent who presided over a multi-year economic crisis, with the country battered by high inflation, essential goods shortages, climate disasters and international aid cuts. Peter Mutharika got 56.8% of the vote compared with 33% for Lazarus Chakwera, according to official results of the 16 September presidential election announced on Wednesday. Chakwera said earlier in the day that he had called Mutharika to concede."
"When Peter Mutharika was governing in the first term, things did not go so well. For him to come back with such an emphatic win it shows you how badly Chakwera has done, said Victor Chipofya, a political science lecturer at Blantyre International University. Malawi's economy never really recovered from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. For the past three years, inflation has been above 20% and the economy has grown more slowly than the population."
Peter Mutharika, 85, won Malawi's presidency with 56.8% against Lazarus Chakwera's 33% in the 16 September vote, and Chakwera conceded. About two-thirds of nearly 11 million eligible voters registered and 76% of registrants voted. The victory marks the third consecutive peaceful transfer of power. Mutharika previously lost a rerun in 2020 and faced past accusations of a $200,000 kickback, from which he was cleared. Malawi faces a multi-year economic crisis with inflation above 20%, sluggish per-capita growth, foreign-exchange shortages causing fuel, fertilizer and medicine scarcities, repeated climate disasters including Cyclone Freddy, and international aid cuts.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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