Peter Penharika Bat, Lazarus of the Kalawi elections, declared commission

The former president of Malawi, Peter Mutharika, was declared winner of last week’s elections in a huge return for the 85 -year -old man.

The official results show that he won 57% of the vote, against 33% of President Lazarus Chakwera, 70.

Chakwera, a pastor before entering politics, conceded the defeat before the declared final result, telephoning Mutharika to congratulate him on his “historic victory”.

Mutharika, former law professor, was president of 2014 to 2020, when he lost against Chakwera by a large margin.

He inherits an economy in deep crisis, with a serious shortage of fuel and foreign currencies in the poor state of southern Africa.

The official inflation rate is close to 30%, with a frozen chicken in a capital supermarket, Lilongwe, costing about $ 20 (£ 15), in a nation where most people live with $ 2 per day or less.

The electoral commission said it took the eight complete days that it had been authorized to announce the result because it wanted to check everything carefully and approach complaints first.

The 2019 elections, also won by Mutharika, were canceled by the highest court in the country, which revealed that there had been generalized irregularities, including the use of the correction fluid to modify the results.

Chakwera won the replay by a huge margin the following year.

It was the fourth electoral duel of the pair.

Mutharika’s older brother Bingu was also president and died in 2012.

In his concession speech, Chakwera said that even if he had concerns about “irregularities” and “anomalies”, he accepted the result out of respect for the majority of the “collective will of Malawians to have a change of government”.

“Anomalies do not necessarily mean that the result of the elections projects Professor Mutharika as a winner is not credible or the reflection of the will of the people,” he said.

His speech sparked celebrations among the supporters of Mutharika in Lilongwe, with hundreds of song and dance in the streets.

Motorists could be heard by bipinizing their horns and playing strong music, while pedestrians danced, sang and chant “Adadi”, which means father in the local chick language.

This result can be considered a rejection of Chakwera only as a victory for Mutharika.

Under President Chakwera, the list of Malawi’s problems has become for too long.

Large -scale corruption, a low economy, high subsistence costs, frequent cuts and a shortage of foreign currency prompted Malawians to seek leadership elsewhere.

Although these same problems existed during Mutharika’s mandate, they worsened under Chakwera.

The allies of Chakwera have blamed the crisis of factors out of its control, including drought and other natural disasters, the cocovid pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

However, the Mutharika campaign mantra – “a return to the proven direction” – resonated with the Malawian voters.

But now Mutharika will have to show that he can again fight against inflation, as he did during his first mandate.

Mutharika has rarely been seen in public during the campaign, unlike Chakwera, which organized many rallies across Malawi.

Consequently, speculation on Mutharika’s health are widespread and there are questions to find out if it has endurance to lead Malawi again at the age of 85.

The swearing ceremony must be organized between seven and 30 days after the announcement of the result.