This archive report was first published on 24 June 2020.
On June 24, 2020, Malawi's electoral commission urged citizens to maintain peace and calm as it tallied votes from the historic presidential rerun election.
The election was held after the Constitutional Court overturned the results of the May 2019 poll, citing 'grave and widespread' irregularities.
Results from the previous election sparked months of countrywide protests, a rare occurrence in Malawi.
The Constitutional Court took six months to review the evidence before ordering fresh elections.
Malawi Electoral Commission Chairman Chifundo Kachale said the tallying of votes from 5,002 polling stations was underway.
“We appeal to Malawians to maintain peace and calm as the vote-counting continues,” Kachale told a news conference in Blantyre.
Incidents of violence were reported, but the police and electoral commission stated that they had not affected the election.
President Peter Mutharika accused the opposition of inciting violence, claiming some of his party monitors were 'chased away, some were beaten.'
“It’s obvious that the opposition is doing this,” Mutharika said.
He also alleged that some people were afraid of the will of the people and were engaging in 'barbaric acts.'
Mutharika had narrowly won the previous election with 38.5 percent of the ballots, beating his closest rival Lazarus Chakwera by just 159,000 votes.
Victory in the rerun will be determined by whoever garners more than 50 percent of the votes.
