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In a stunning political turnaround, Malawi’s 85-year-old former President Peter Mutharika has reclaimed power, winning last week’s elections with 57% of the vote. He defeated the incumbent, President Lazarus Chakwera, who received just 33%. Mutharika, once a law professor, led the country from 2014 to 2020 before losing to Chakwera. He now faces the challenge of managing an economy in crisis, marked by severe fuel shortages and a scarcity of foreign currency in the impoverished southern African nation.
Chakwera, a pastor before entering politics, conceded defeat ahead of the final result being declared, phoning Mutharika to congratulate him on his "historic win".
The official inflation rate is close to 30% in a nation where most people live on $2 a day or less.
The election commission said it took the full eight days it was allowed to announce the result because it wanted to check everything carefully and address the complaints first.
The 2019 election, also won by Mutharika, was annulled by the country's highest court, which found there had been widespread irregularities, including the use of correction fluid to alter results.
Chakwera won the rerun by a huge margin the following year. This was the pair's fourth electoral duel.
This result can be seen more as a rejection of Chakwera than a victory for Mutharika.
Under President Chakwera, Malawi's list of problems just grew too long. Corruption on a grand scale, a weak economy, high living costs, frequent power cuts and a shortage of foreign currency pushed Malawians to look elsewhere for leadership.
Although these same problems existed during Mutharika's tenure, they worsened under Chakwera. Chakwera's allies blamed the crisis on factors out of his control, including drought and other natural disasters, the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
However, Mutharika's campaign mantra - "a return to proven leadership" - resonated with Malawian voters. But now Mutharika will have to show that he can once again tackle inflation, as he did in his first term.