Opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Peter Mutharika is comfortably leading the presidential elections with 2,138,746 votes officially released so far by the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC).
Malawi Congress Party (MCP) candidate Lazarus Chakwera came in a distant second with 1,067,940 of the 3,206,686 valid ballots counted from 24 of 36 councils.
MEC chairperson Anabell Mtalimanja said that 3,293,767 Malawians voted, of which 83,781 ballots were null and void, representing a rejection rate of about 2.5 percent.
The remaining councils are: Mangochi District, Mangochi Municipality, Ntcheu, Chiradzulu, Nkhatabay, Blantyre District, Karonga District, Phalombe, Lilongwe District, Kasungu District, Dedza and Mchinji.
Mutharika just needs 205,841 votes to be declared the winner, meaning he will pass the constitutional 50%+1 threshold.
On the other hand, Chakwera needs 1,609,931 votes to overturn the tables, which is very unlikely.
