Former President Peter Mutharika is edging closer to victory in the presidential election, having secured 2,022,879 votes against his nearest contender, incumbent President Lazarus Chakwera, who has so far received 729,425 votes, according to official results from 24 district councils.

Mutharika’s party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), has taken the lead in 21 out of the 24 councils whose results have been announced.

The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) is now left with official results from 12 councils, and Mutharika needs fewer than 300,000 votes to secure the required 50 percent plus one vote for an outright victory.

In contrast, Chakwera would need to gain over 1.6 million votes from the remaining councils to win the presidency.

According to MEC statistics, 4,689,172 peopl

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