Mutharika re-elected Malawi President

BLANTYRE – President Peter Mutharika has been narrowly re-elected as Malawian president, according to the Malawi Electoral Commission.

Mutharika, who heads the ruling Progressive Democratic Party (DPP), took up the challenge of opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP).

A court decision this weekend prevented the election commission from publishing further results until all the irregularities were resolved and one-third of the constituencies were recounted.

The President of the Malawi Election Commission, Jane Ansah, admitted that the Tipp-Ex – or a similar liquid – was used in some polling station results sheets.

"This is disturbing because it is widespread, from Chitipa to Nsanje," she said, citing two districts at the opposite ends of Southeast Africa.

The commission did not provide corrective cash in the election materials, she said.

The role of the correction fluid has become an integral part of the battle for alleged interference in elections.

"We are just as surprised at the provenance of this Tipp-Ex, so we need to know where it's coming from and why they're using it while we insist that they do not use it." never, "said the Chief Electoral Officer, Sam Alfandika, to AFP. .

"We are curious to know what has really happened."

In its court documents, the MCP reported irregularities in the count of votes indicating an alleged fraud.

The party spokesman, Eisenhower Mkaka, told AFP that there was "a lot of tippex (of) results," adding that there also seemed to be "the same handwriting on the counting sheets from different polling stations ".

"It's a serious red flag – it's an indication that someone was trying to alter the results," Mkaka said.

Paul Chibingu, a leader of the United Transformation Movement, a smaller opposition party, said the use of the correction fluid "shows that they are trying to rig the elections by changing the numbers."