…Results to Be Announced by 24 September
…Malawi general elections key dates
Malawi will now hold its tripartite general elections—presidential, parliamentary, and local government—on 16 September. The Malawi presidential election results are expected to be released by 24 September, followed by parliamentary results, with the councillor results released thereafter.
Presidential candidates will submit their nominations in the first week of July. This is the time each candidate will unveil their respective running mates.
The road to 16 September has already been marked by political tension and violence. Incidents have been reported involving the ruling Malawi Congress Party (MCP), with opposition parties allegedly being barred from campaigning in areas considered MCP strongholds. MCP’s panga wielding thugs also attacked law makers within Parliament vicinity in Capital Lilongwe. The criminals are yet to be apprehended by the Malawi Police despite being caught on camera.
President Lazarus Chakwera, the incumbent, is expected to face off against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Arthur Peter Mutharika. Chakwera came to power following a court-sanctioned rerun in 2020, after the High Court nullified the 2019 presidential election due to irregularities.
The Supreme Court upheld this ruling, setting a legal precedent for challenging election results this year. Given this precedent, it is widely anticipated that any losing party may turn to the courts for redress this year as well.
In 2020, President Chakwera only managed to secure his victory after leading a strong electoral alliance, the Tonse Alliance. The alliance has now fallen apart.
Meanwhile, the incumbent is trailing in all major opinion polls. In Malawi24’s first opinion poll ahead of the election, he placed third, behind UTM’s candidate Dalitso Kabambe, who came second with his 23%. Mutharika came first with 62 percent of nearly 40 thousand people who took part in the opinion poll. Chakwera only managed to win over 3,858 votes from individual participants while Mutharika secured votes from 23,553 people. Each person in this opinion poll voted once.
A second poll conducted this week from Thursday, which drew nearly 14,000 respondents, gauged public confidence in Chakwera’s claim of a guaranteed re-election, as made during the official launch of the Malawi Trade Fair. The results were similarly unfavorable for the president: 81 percent (11,337 respondents) expressed disbelief in his chances, while only 13 percent (1,749) believed he could win. An additional 747 respondents were undecided.
While the presence of fake or duplicate accounts could not be entirely ruled out, their impact on the poll results appears minimal. Nonetheless, it is important to note that not all participants may actually vote in the election due to voter apathy, distrust in the political system, or ineligibility, such as residency abroad or lack of registration.
