Mutharika wins Malawi polls
The Electoral Commission (EC) in Malawi headed by Chairperson Justice Anastasia Msosa has declared Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate in Tuesday’s polls, Bingu wa Mutharika as the country's President for the next five years.
Making the official announcement at the national tally centre in Blantyre, Justice Msosa declared Mutharika as Malawi President after outclassing opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and United Democratic Front (UDF) electoral coalition presidential candidate John Zenus Ungapake (JZU) Tembo.
The DPP leader won the election with a landslide 66 percent victory as he scooped over 2.7 million votes against Tembo's 1.3 million of 93.25 percent of the votes counted.
However, the commission did not count votes in some constituencies of Ntchisi, Salima, Mchinji, Dedza, Ntcheu, Mangochi, Balaka, Machinga, Blantyre, Phalombe and Nsanje, where some results were yet to be tabulated
According to Justice Msosa, total registered voters in the remaining constituencies were 670,090 but “could not change the outcome of the election" won by 75-year-old Mutharika, who will rule the south-east African state for another five-year term following his rise to the leadership when he won the 2004 elections.
"As the results cannot in any way affect the outcome, the Commission has decided to announce the interim results at this point in time and declare the leading candidate duly elected.
"With powers vested in me as Chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Commission, therefore declare Bingu, otherwise known as Dr Bingu wa Mutharika, president of the Democratic Progressive Party, DPP, winner of the 2009 presidential election," confirmed the EC chairperson, sending DPP and Mutharika jovial supporters to the dance floor of Comesa Hall.
Besides overwhelmingly winning the presidential seat, Mutharika’s DPP has won more than 70 seats in the 193-member National Assembly, followed by independents, the UDF, MCP and other parties.
While admitting that there were some challenges during the electoral process, the EC has meanwhile called upon all the winners in the presidential and parliamentary races to celebrate peacefully and ensure they achieve what they have promised to the voters.
For those who have lost Justice Msosa has asked them to “accept defeat and support the winners for the good of the nation.”
There were seven presidential candidates in the 2009 Malawi general elections, two of which conceded defeat as soon as the EC started announcing the results.
Apart from Mutharika and his main contender Tembo, the other presidential candidates included Stanley Masauli (RP), Loveness Gondwe, (Narc), James Nyondo (Independent), Dindi Gowa Nyasulu (Aford) and Kamuzu Chibambo (Petra).
The parliamentary race had over one thousand candidates across the country fighting for the 193 seats in Parliament.
The new Malawi President-elect is expected to be inaugurated today (Friday) at the Kamuzu Stadium in the commercial capital Blantyre.
