Malawi 2025 Elections: A Battle of Redemption and Regret
17 Sept 25
In ‘the warm heart of Africa’, the political mercury is boiling. Malawi’s 2025 presidential and parliamentary elections have turned into a high-stakes drama starring two familiar protagonists: Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, the incumbent president from the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), and Arthur Peter Mutharika, the octogenarian comeback kid from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
With 7.2 million registered voters and a 50%+1 threshold required to win outright like Zambia, the race is tighter than a Lilongwe fuel queue.
Early polls are split: some show Chakwera leading with 55%, others tip Mutharika at 43%. Translation: it’s anyone’s game, and a run-off looms like a hungry cyclone.
Regional Colour: Who’s Got the Map?
• Central Region: Chakwera’s fortress, where he commands over 80% support.
• Southern Region: Mutharika’s bastion, clinging to 63% support.
• Northern Region: A swing zone, with Chakwera slightly ahead.
Why Chakwera Might Be One-Term History Chakwera rode into power in 2020 on his “Super Hi5” promises: servant leadership, rule of law, ending corruption, unity, and shared prosperity.
Five years later, analysts say he’s scored a dismal 38.4% across those pillars, with corruption clean-up earning a humiliating 24%. “Malawi has become an example,” he once declared. Today, it’s more like a cautionary tale.
Inflation is above 27%, fuel is scarcer than truth in campaign speeches, and 70% of Malawians live below the poverty line.
As Analysts might quip from my imaginary perch in Lilongwe: “Chakwera promised to lift Malawians out of poverty. Turns out, he only lifted their expectations.”
Mutharika’s Comeback Tour at 85, Mutharika is pitching nostalgia like it’s a new currency. He’s promising to “rescue the nation” with old-school governance, lower fertilizer prices, and a return to “order”.
His leaked blueprint includes controversial plans: reinstating the quota system, pardoning DPP cronies, and relocating key government offices to the Southern Region. It’s Trumpian, it’s audacious and it’s working.
What They Need to Win
• President Chakwera: Needs to consolidate urban youth and northern swing votes, and pray the Tonse Alliance’s ghost still haunts the ballot.
• Mutharika: Needs high turnout in the South, a fractured opposition, and a forgiving electorate.
易 Why This Poll Matters This isn’t just a vote—it’s a referendum on Malawi’s democratic resilience.
The 2019 election was annulled for Tipp-Ex tampering. The 2020 rerun was historic. Now, 2025 tests whether reform and rhetoric can coexist.
As Analysts might say, “In Malawi, elections are less about choosing a leader and more about choosing which disappointment you can live with best.”
Could the above be the case in most African polls, a return to the old?
Let’s hope the ballot box delivers more than just déjà vu.
