Two former Malawian presidents have officially launched separate campaigns to unseat President Lazarus Chakwera in the country’s upcoming general elections this September 16.
Concerns about an ongoing severe economic crisis, including runaway inflation nearing 30 percent, are set to dominate the upcoming polls in the southern African nation.
According to the World Bank, approximately three-quarters of Malawi’s 21 million population are currently living in conditions of extreme poverty, which is a major electoral issue.
Chakwera’s longtime rival, 85-year-old Peter Mutharika, launched his campaign by vowing to “rescue” Malawi from its current political and economic hardships. The retired law professor, who leads the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party, previously served as president from 2014 until 2020.
Mutharika’s re-election was famously annulled by the courts in 2020 due to widespread irregularities, leading to the current government’s rise to power. Former president Joyce Banda, a 74-year-old educator, also launched her campaign pledging to prioritize youth empowerment and job creation in the central town of Ntcheu.
Banda, the first female president of Malawi, took office in 2012 before leaving the country in 2014 amidst a corruption scandal known as “Cashgate”. She told her supporters that her first task would be fixing the country’s passport crisis, which would enable youth to seek employment abroad.
The incumbent President Chakwera, 70, who won 58 percent of the vote in the court-ordered 2020 rerun, faces at least two other candidates. The country’s year-on-year inflation rate hit 27.1 percent in June, according to the national statistics office, fueling the ongoing protests earlier this year.