Overview

• Official partial counts from 24 of 36 councils give Peter Mutharika roughly 66% of valid votes versus about 24% for President Lazarus Chakwera, according to Reuters calculations.
• An unofficial Luntha Television dashboard shows Mutharika at 2,529,771 votes and Chakwera at 1,391,724, closely tracking the partial official results.
• Malawi’s rules require more than 50% of valid votes for an outright win, otherwise the election proceeds to a runoff.
• Opposition supporters rallied on the streets and prominent commentators urged Chakwera to concede, while the Malawi Congress Party cited irregularities and sought audits.
• The verification drive follows the court’s annulment of the 2019 result and comes as inflation above 20% and recent climate shocks have weighed on voters.