Lazarus Chakwera to be officially declared victor of recent election
After last week’s historic re-run of 2019’s disputed presidential elections, Malawi will today finalise the election results and declare Lazarus Chakwera the winner with 58.57% of the vote.
President Peter Mutharika’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) suffered a 20-point loss to Chakwera’s “Tonse Alliance” of nine political parties. Although the DPP is disputing the extent of the electoral loss, the margin of victory lends credence to Chakwera’s 2019 charges of electoral interference and vote tampering.
Come Monday, Malawi will move forward as the incoming president attempts to unify and govern a nation torn by two years of bitter electoral dispute. Chakwera’s main goals are to bring Malawians out of poverty by reinforcing the power of the courts and rule of law that helped bring him to power, creating a million jobs to expand the agricultural sector—which already accounts for a quarter of the country’s GDP—and combating corruption in the public sector. If the new government is able to make significant progress on these goals, international creditors will likely be amenable to renegotiating previous debts. This would allow Lilongwe to invest more in infrastructure, healthcare and education, helping Malawi to stabilise and flourish.
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