LILONGWE, Sept 16 – Malawians are waiting to find out who their next president will be as polls have closed in most parts of the country and counting has started.
Thousands of people queued outside polling stations on Tuesday to vote for a president, MPs and local councillors, keenly hoping to effect change in a country swamped by economic troubles. Some are still voting in areas where polling started late.
In his campaign for a second term, current President Lazarus Chakwera pledged to fix Malawi’s economy – as did his main rival, octogenarian former leader Peter Mutharika.
If no candidate wins more than half the votes, the top two contenders will head to a run-off.
The election is effectively a two-horse race between Chakwera and the man he beat in 2020, 85-year-old Mutharika.
However, there are 15 other candidates, including another former president, and the country’s only female head of state, Joyce Banda.
A couple of hours before the polls closed, Malawi Electoral Commission chairperson Annabel Mtalimanja said 3.7 million people – just half of those who had registered to vote – had cast their ballot.