(25 Sep 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lilongwe, Malawi – 24 September 2025
1. Wide of audience and officials at the Malawi Electoral Commission’s National Tally Centre during the 2025 general elections results announcement in Lilongwe
2. Wide of Malawian security officials seated during the announcement of election result
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Annabel Mtalimanja, chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Commission:
"I declare candidate Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika as the president-elect – and Justice Dr Jane Mayemu Ansah, AC retired – as the president and vice president elect of the Republic of Malawi, following the September 2025 presidential general election."
4. Wide of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials celebrating election results
5. Various of DPP supporters celebrating party win
6. SOUNDBITE (Chichewa) Lewis Kasama, Lilongwe resident:
"The President should make sure that we have food and reduce the price of fertilizer. He should also work at restoring the value of the Malawi Kwacha. He should make sure there are no devaluation of the currency. He should as well avoid regionalism to build the nation."
7. Various of Malawians celebrating
STORYLINE:
Former President Peter Mutharika was declared the winner of Malawi’s election Wednesday, ousting incumbent Lazarus Chakera to return as leader of one of Africa’s poorest countries.
Chakwera conceded defeat in a speech on national television hours before the final results were announced, and supporters of Mutharika and his Democratic Progressive Party had already gathered in the streets of the commercial capital, Blantyre, to celebrate.
The 85-year-old Mutharika, who was president from 2014-2020, won 56% of the vote, according to the Malawi Electoral Commission.
Chakwera was second with 33%.
The winning candidate needed to receive more than 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff.
Mutharika’s return to the presidency came after he lost to Chakwera in a historic election rerun five years ago.
As president he was initially declared the winner of a 2019 vote, but that election was nullified months later by a court and ordered to be redone because of irregularities.
The economy was seen as the main issue for voters, who had grown weary of the soaring cost-of-living and fuel and food shortages.
Inflation has shot up to over 27%, while a devastating cyclone in 2023 and a drought last year worsened hardship.
More than 80% of the population in Malawi live rurally and rely on agriculture.
Mutharika, a former law professor, had campaigned on promises of fixing the economy and restoring what his party framed as his experienced leadership, though his first term was marked by allegations of corruption and public discontent over food shortages and electricity outages.
He has a long history in Malawian politics having served in the Cabinet when his older brother was president.
A total of 17 candidates ran in last Tuesday’s election, including another former president Joyce Banda.
But analysts always saw it as a race between Chakwera and his predecessor Mutharika, who have met in elections in 2014, 2019, 2020 and this year.
Chakwera said that he had spoken with Mutharika to congratulate him.
He added that his Malawi Congress Party would accept the outcome of the vote despite complaints in recent days from several parties, including MCP, of irregularities in some voting districts.
The head of the Malawi Electoral Commission that oversaw the election said that it had resolved all those complaints and didn’t report any major problems.
AP video shot by: Kenneth Jali
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