Malawi opposition claims victory in presidential election re-run

By Frank Phiri
BLANTYRE, June 25 (Reuters) - Malawi's opposition alliance
claimed victory for its candidate Lazarus Chakwera on Thursday
in a re-run of the 2019 presidential election, annulled by
courts because of fraud.
The vote on Tuesday came to be regarded as a test of the
ability of African courts to fight ballot fraud since Malawi's
judiciary infuriated President Peter Mutharika in February by
overturning the result of last year's vote.
"With all votes ... tallied, it is now clear that Malawians
have resoundingly given (the opposition)...alliance the mandate
to govern this country for the next five years," a statement
from Chakwera's Tonse Alliance said.
"Malawians have at last reclaimed their destiny."
A spokesman for Mutharika's alliance did not immediately
respond to a request for comment. Malawi's state and private
media on Wednesday gave Chakwera a comfortable 55% lead, with
nearly three-quarters of votes counted, against Mutharika's 40%.
At a news conference on Thursday, Electoral Commission
chairman Chifundo Kachale urged Malawians to wait for the
official result, which was taking time to collate because the
ballots had to be transported back to head office from locations
across the lakeside southern African nation.
A win for Chakwera would be a dramatic reversal of last
year's discredited poll that handed the presidency back to the
incumbent, who has been in power since 2014.
Electoral officials said voting day on Tuesday was largely
peaceful, apart from some sporadic reports of violence in
opposition strongholds, and Malawi has remained calm while
awaiting the result.
The cancelled result forced a change in the electoral
system, swapping a "first-past-the-post" for a system in which
the winner has to get more than 50% of the vote.

(Writing by Tim Cocks
Editing by Mark Heinrich)