Malawi : Presidential Election Re-Run Today

Malawi goes to the polls today June 23, 2020 in a historic presidential re-run election after a court overturned last year's elections and ordered a fresh vote. Citing "grave" and "widespread" rigging, the country's Constitutional Court ruled in February that President, Peter Mutharika had not been duly elected, and mandated a new poll within 150 days.
The landmark verdict, which reverberated across Africa, made Malawi the second country south of the Sahara to have presidential poll results set aside, after Kenya in 2017. Although there are three candidates, today's election is practically a two-horse race between outgoing President Peter Mutharika who scored 38.57 percent and his main rival Lazarus Chakwera 35.41 percent 
An upbeat Mutharika held his final campaign meeting on Saturday, June 20, 2020 rallying supporters to vote and secure another victory. "We won the election in 2019 but the (opposition) went to court and grabbed the government from us let us go and vote so that those who stole the government from us should be ashamed". Mutharika told scores of supporters in Rumphi, northern Malawi.
Chakwera, who led the watershed election petition, said the cancellation of last year's vote had vindicated his long-held suspicions about the ballot. But this time around, "we have more confidence that this election will be treated with the integrity it deserves," Chakwera told AFP.
With the appointment of a new chair of the National Election Committee (NEC), and a modification of the election rules, "It is clear that no political party, as contested during the 2019 elections, would get the 50 percent plus one vote so alliances have become the most obvious alternative," said Jimmy Kainja, lecturer in media, communication and cultural studies at the University of Malawi.
The two parties behind last year's legal challenge, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), headed by Chakwera, and the United Transformation Movement (UTM), Saulos Chil...