SANF 25 no 25 by Clarkson Mambo
Professor Peter Arthur Mutharika has won the 2025 presidential elections held on 16 September, in polls described by observers as having been held in a free, peaceful and transparent manner.
According to the final results announced by the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC), Mutharika, who leads the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), garnered 56.8 percent of the total valid votes, ahead of 16 other presidential hopefuls.
Incumbent President, Dr Lazarus Chakwera, leader of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), who was aiming to secure a second and final term in office, came second after securing 33 percent of the vote.
Joyce Banda, who once led Malawi between 2012 and 2014, also contested and came fifth in the polls.
Mutharika, a young brother of the late Malawian leader Bingu wa Mutharika, was the President of Malawi from 2014 to 2019 and failed to win a second consecutive term in the previous election, which saw Chakwera elected.
Mutharika becomes the seventh president of Malawi. Others before him are the country’s first post-independence leader Hastings Kamuzu Banda, Bakili Muluzi, Bingu wa Mutharika, Joyce Banda and Lazarus Chakwera.
Prior to joining politics in 2009, when he was elected Member of Parliament for Thyolo East, Mutharika spent most of his life as a law professor, having taught at various institutions of higher learning such as Makerere University in Uganda, the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and Washington University in the United States.
In 2019, Malawi introduced a new system that requires a presidential candidate to win outright with a majority of more than 50 percent of total votes, to avoid a run-off election.
According to the MEC Chairperson, Justice Annabel Mtalimanja, the President-Elect and Vice President-Elect, Dr Jane Ansah, are expected to be sworn into office between 7 and 30 days after the announcement of the election result.
She said Mutharika had been “elected by the people of Malawi to lead them into a brighter future.”
“We urge you to work and to perform your best and not to betray the trust and confidence of the people of Malawi who have elected you,” she said, while thanking political parties and the citizens for exercising patience over the eight days the Commission took to announce the final result, which is within the mandated timeframe.
In his campaign, which was under the banner of “A return to proven leadership”, Mutharika centred his message on growing the economy, creating jobs and reducing the cost of living.
Out of 7.2 million people registered to vote, 5.5 million turned out to vote on 16 September.
The MEC received complaints from three political parties, including Chakwera’s MCP, over the way the poll was conducted. Chakwera even approached the High Court to stop the MEC from announcing the results, but the case was dismissed.
The presidential elections were held concurrently with polls to choose parliamentarians and local councillors. Mtalimanja said the MEC still had a week to announce the parliamentary results and two weeks for the local government elections.
This year’s election sees the introduction of a larger parliament and local councils. A reassessment of constituency and ward borders in 2022 led to an increase in parliamentary seats to 229 from 193 in 2019, and wards increased to 509 from 462.
At least 1,489 candidates were vying for the parliamentary seats, including more than 600 independent candidates.
Addressing Malawians before the final results were announced, Chakwera conceded defeat, describing the outcome for him and his supporters as disappointing, but committing to facilitate a smooth handover to a new administration.
“To the majority of you who voted, this outcome is a reflection of your collective will to have a change of government, so I concede defeat out of respect for your will as citizens and out of respect for the Constitution,” he said.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC), of which Malawi is a founding member, deployed 80 observers to the election, led by Themba Masuku, the former Deputy Prime Minister of Eswatini.
Chairperson of the SADC Organ Troika, King Mswati III of Eswatini lauded Malawians for having held elections in a peaceful and orderly manner in line with the spirit of the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections.
“The SEOM (SADC Electoral Observer Mission) extends its profound gratitude to the Malawi nation for her people’s tolerance of divergent political views and democratic maturity, and urges all stakeholders to remain true to these attributes beyond the release of the final results, as they engage in their daily activities for the socio-economic development of Malawi and the SADC Region, whilst looking forward to a smooth transition,” said King Mswati III. sardc.net