Malawi Awaits Result After Tight Three-way Election

Millions of voters in Malawi cast ballots Tuesday in a closely-fought election, with President Peter Mutharika battling to hold off two rivals in a race that focused on corruption allegations and economic development

Lilongwe, Malawi, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2019 ) :Millions of voters in Malawi cast ballots Tuesday in a closely-fought election, with President Peter Mutharika battling to hold off two rivals in a race that focused on corruption allegations and economic development.

Polls closed at 6:00 pm (1600 GMT) after a day of long queues at many voting stations, with early results expected on Wednesday evening or Thursday.

Mutharika, who has been in power since 2014, faces opposition from his own deputy Saulos Chilima and former Baptist preacher Lazarus Chakwera.

"I am happy that I have voted," said Mutharika, 78, leader of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) after leaving a polling station in Thyolo town outside Blantyre.

"There are very long lines but I am encouraging everyone to vote because it is the people who will decide." His campaign for a second five-year term has highlighted his record of improving roads and power infrastructure.

Under Mutharika, inflation in the southeast African country has fallen from 23 percent to below nine percent, but still just 11 percent of the population has access to mains electricity.

The election is the first since a new law forced parties to declare large donations and banned the once-common practice by candidates of giving cash handouts.

"We need jobs to change our lives and that is what I hope my candidate does," Madalitso Willie, 25, a motor mechanic in Lilongwe, told AFP, declining to reveal his preference.