LILONGWE (Reuters) -Malawi’s former President Peter Mutharika has built a commanding lead over incumbent Lazarus Chakwera in the Southern African country’s presidential election, provisional results from two-thirds of councils showed on Monday.

Mutharika received roughly 66% of the valid votes cast in 24 of the country’s 36 councils in the September 16 election, compared with about 24% for Chakwera, who is in second place, according to Reuters calculations based on results released by the electoral commission.

A candidate needs to secure more than 50% of valid votes for an outright win, otherwise there will be a second round of voting.

Political analysts had predicted that Mutharika, 85, who was in power between 2014 and 2020, would mount a strong challenge to Chakwera’s re-election bid

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