Malawi’s ruling party is now calling for a third presidential election, citing irregularities and intimidation in this week’s re-run vote as unofficial tallies show incumbent President Peter Mutharika losing to the opposition leader.
Voters in the southern African country went to the polls on Tuesday for the second time in 13 months after the Constitutional Court nullified the initial May 2019 presidential election over mass fraud.
The governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) called Friday on the electoral commission to annul the results collated so far of the second vote and declare a third poll.
Unofficial tallies compiled by public broadcaster MBC gave opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera a dominant 60 percent lead, with the incumbent Mutharika trailing on 39 percent.
DPP administrative secretary Francis Mphepo said in a statement: “We wish to highlight several incidents that may potentially affect the integrity and credibility of the presidential election results.”
The party listed polling stations from which their monitors were allegedly excluded and said more than 1.5 million votes had been marred by “violence and intimidation”.
(With input from AFP)
