Peter Mutharika directs Lazarus Chakwera in the presidential race, shows the results

The former president of Malawi, Peter Mutharika, took a comfortable lead in the country’s presidential race, two thirds of the districts having reported provisional results.

The 85 -year -old has received approximately 66% of the valid votes counted so far, with his closest rival, the Lazare Chakwera in place, 70, dragging around 24%.

The results declared so far indicate that Mutharika has won in areas known to be chakwera bastions, including the capital, Lilongwe and Nkhotakota.

But the Chakwera camp has not abandoned, saying that once the results declared in other areas, its vote will increase and it could force runoff.

A candidate needs more than 50% of the votes to be declared victorious, the Malawiens awaiting the final result of last Tuesday’s elections.

The Malawi electoral commission has until the end of Wednesday to announce it.

At least two of the 12 districts to declare the results have a large number of registered voters, and the Chakwera camp thinks it will do well. These are rural areas around Lilongwe and Dedza.

Two other districts, where Mutharika should do well, have had their results retained by the electoral commission because it checks if they are correct.

The Commission said it was attached to transparency, precision and credibility.

He added that he carefully checked all of the counts, after the Constitutional Court canceled Mutharika’s victory in 2019 due to irregularities.

Chakwera won the re -evaluation with a large margin, but during its presidency, the Malawi’s economic crisis deepened, with high inflation, a shortage of food and fuel and constant power reductions.

Friday, the Party of Chakwera said that he had discovered “irregularities” and “serious anomalies”, and asked the electoral commission to carry out a “physical audit” of results. The party did not specify the irregularities.

Police said eight data seizure had been arrested for accusations of having tried to manipulate results.