Malawi: Vote-Counting Commences in Election Rerun

Malawi has started counting the votes that were passed in the rerun elections held on Tuesday, 23 June.

Five thousand nationwide polls closed late in the evening for 6.8 million eligible voters in the landlocked eastern Africa country, where – for the second time in a little over a year – the highest court in the land declared the results of the previous run in May last year invalid.

The Constitutional Court ruled in February that last year’s vote had “grave and widespread irregularities”, and ordered that fresh elections be held within 150 days from the ruling.

Incumbent President Peter Mutharika criticised the court’s conclusion, and filed an appeal. However, on 8 May 2019, the Supreme Court upheld the earlier finding, sending Malawians back to polling stations.

Only two candidates were considered contenders: President Mutharika, and leader of the Malawi Congress Party, Lazarus Chakwera.

The voting results will be announced after eight days.

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