Votes are being counted in Malawi after a tightly contested presidential and parliamentary elections on Tuesday.
Malawi’s electoral commission has said that it should start receiving results from more than 5,000 polling stations on Wednesday.
Results are for the first time being transmitted electronically to the national tally centre.
Almost seven million voters registered for the elections to elect a new president, members of parliament and local councillors.
Election laws in Malawi require that the electoral commission announced final results within eight days.
Incumbent President Peter Mutharika who i seeking re-election is facing tough challenge from his former vice-president, Saulos Chilima and other key contenders.
There are seven candidates though in the race for the presidency but three of them, Peter Mutharika, Saulos Chilima and Lazarus Chakwera are the main contenders.
President Peter Mutharika who is 78 years of age came into power in 2014 after winning the presidential election.
Two years earlier his elder brother Bingu wa Mutharika died from heart attack while in power.
Mutharika’s toughest challenge is coming from Saulos Chilima who was Mutharika’s running mate in 2014.
He became vice-president but fell out with his boss, Mutharika last year and has since exited the ruling party to form his own.
Chilima, a youthful 46-year-old has now set up the United Transformation Movement (UTM) party to contest the election.
But the main opposition is being led by former evangelist Lazarus Chakwera who is 64 year old.
Chakwera is leading Malawi’s oldest party, the Malawi Congress Party, into the election.
Source: Africafeeds.com
