Malawi’s new president calls for unity

LILONGWE, Malawi: Malawi’s newly elected President Lazarus Chakwera vowed on Sunday to maintain unity in the southern African country after quashing the incumbent’s bid for a second term in the re-run of a hotly contested election.

It was a dramatic twist of fortune for outgoing president Peter Mutharika, whose victory in a May 2019 ballot was overturned by the Constitutional Court over fraud allegations. Chakwera, a former evangelist preacher, was declared the winner of the election replay with almost 59 percent of the vote, according to results announced late on Saturday.

Malawi is only the second sub-Saharan African country to have presidential poll results overturned in court, after Kenya in 2017. It is also the first time in the region that a vote re-run has led to the defeat of an incumbent leader.

The election was hailed by leaders across the continent as a peaceful transition of power. "It is an honour forged in the furnace of your desire and your demand for change," Chakwera said after taking his oath of office.