Former Presidents Mutharika & Banda Cast Their Votes in Malawi Elections 🇲🇼

(16 Sep 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Thyolo, Malawi - 16 September 2025
1. Wide of voters gathered at a polling station during the Malawi election
2. WIde of former Malawi President Peter Mutharika arriving with wife Gertrude Maseko at a polling station
3. Close up Mutharika's finger being marked with ink, indicating participation in the election
4. WIde Mutharika casting his vote
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Peter Mutharika, former President of Malawi:
"A few irregularities, but the impression I am getting is that it's going really well, better than we expected. I think it is going on well. I think everyone is behaving responsibly. Both the government and the opposition, we all wish this country well. So, I think everyone is exercising responsibility and restraint."

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Zomba, Malawi - 16 September 2025
6. Wide of polling station
7. Wide of former Malawi President Joyce Banda interacting with an election official
8. Various of Banda at a election booth marking ballot paper and casting her ballot
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Joyce Banda, former President of Malawi:
I as Joyce Banda, one of the candidates would like to appeal to all Malawians to stay calm. In comes once in five years. The decisions we make today are critical but at the same time they must not divide us because when all is said and done we remain Malawians."

Blantyre, Malawi - 16 September 2025
11. Various Malawi Electoral Commission officials counting ballot papers
STORYLINE:
Malawi began counting votes Tuesday in a presidential election that's expected to be a tight race between two old rivals that could go to a runoff and comes at a time of economic turmoil in one of the world’s least-developed countries.

Voters faced a choice between giving President Lazarus Chakwera, 70, a second term or selecting another leader to solve the southern African nation’s soaring inflation, cost-of-living crisis and critical fuel shortages.

Among the 16 other candidates, former President Peter Mutharika, 85, is viewed as a strong challenger to return as leader.

The two rivals faced off in 2019, when Mutharika's victory as the incumbent over challenger Chakwera was nullified by a court because of widespread irregularities. Chakwera won an historic rerun of that vote in 2020.

While Chakwera’s election was greeted with an outpouring of public support, the national mood has changed after five hard years for a largely rural country that already had high levels of poverty.

Polls closed in Tuesday's one-day vote and counting began by late afternoon, according to election officials. By law the results must be announced within a week. Voters will also choose the makeup of Parliament and more than 500 local government representatives.

Another former president, Joyce Banda, is also running for the top position as is Vice President Michael Usi, but analysts see it as a two-horse race between Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party and Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party.

The presidential election is likely to go to a runoff after the failed 2019 vote prompted a change in Malawian electoral law. The format implemented after 2020 requires the winner to receive more than 50% of the vote.
Because no candidate is expected to get more than 50% in the first round, a runoff and another vote pitting Chakwera against Mutharika is expected.

Any runoff must be held within 30 days of the results announcement.



AP Video by Kenneth Jali

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