Peter Mutharika, incumbent president of Malawi has officially been declared the winner of Malawi’s 2019 presidential elections. According to the Malawi electoral commission on Monday, Mutharika obtained 38.67% of the votes. 

Mutharika (78) came into power in 2014 and while being credited with improving infrastructure and lowering inflation his previous term was marred with allegations of severe corruption as well as ballooning external debt, food shortages and growing poverty. 

Tensions were high between political parties as the Malawi electoral commission stated that it will not be releasing the presidential elections results due to a court injunction obtained by the Malawi Congress party over the past weekend following allegations of vote tampering by the ruling party. A third of the votes from various districts had to been recounted after rigging complaints by opposition parties.

However, the high court lifted its weekend injunction. 

Last week Tuesday voters went to the ballot for a president and parliament in what was a nail-biting race between Mutharika and the two opposition leaders, Lazarus Chakwera and Deputy President Saulos Chilima. 

The MEC confirmed the results on Monday with Dr Jane Ansah, the MEC chair, declaring Mutharika the winner of the presidential elections.  Opposition leader Chakwera had 35.71% of the votes while Deputy President Chilima trailed with 20.24%. In the race between Chakwera and Mutharika, the incumbent crossed the finish line by a hair. 

Nicolus Dausi, former homeland minister, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party said 

Following this win, Mutharika is clear for his second term as president of Malawi. 

-JP