Official results show Malawi's leader, Lazarus Chakwera has obtained 33% of votes, while over 56% were cast for his rival, Peter Mutharika

Malawi's President Lazarus Chakwera has conceded defeat after losing his bid for a second term in an election where the southern African nation's economic crisis dominated voter concerns.

Chakwera won 33% of the vote in the September 16 election, while his opponent, former president Arthur Peter Mutharika, secured 56.8% to become president-elect, the electoral commission announced late on Wednesday. A candidate required over 50% of the vote to win outright.

Last Friday, Malawi's police said they arrested eight data entry clerks at a collation center in the capital, Lilongwe, for allegedly manipulating election figures.

In an address before the official results were declared, Chakwera said he accepted the outcome and had called his rival, Mutharika, to "congratulate him on his historic victory."

"This outcome is a reflection of your collective will to have a change of government, and so it is only right that I concede defeat out of respect for your will as citizens and out of respect for the constitution," he stated.

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Chakwera became president in 2020 after defeating Mutharika in the runoff of a turbulent 2019 election. Mutharika had initially been declared the winner, but the Constitutional Court annulled the results over irregularities, including tampered tally sheets, and ordered a rerun.

He had pledged a tougher stance on corruption during his tenure, but his approach has been criticized as selective and slow. His term has also been marked by soaring inflation, a cost-of-living crisis, and chronic food and fuel shortages in one of the world's least developed countries.

In August 2024, President Chakwera declared a state of disaster in most provinces after a drought triggered by the El Nino weather pattern and said his government needed more than $200 million in humanitarian aid. The country had also been hit in 2023 by a cyclone that left more than 1,200 people missing or presumed dead.

Mutharika, a law professor who led Malawi from 2014 to 2020, is credited by supporters with expanding infrastructure and curbing inflation, but accused by opponents of corruption and favoritism.
He has pledged during his campaign to fix the economy in his next government.