In a significant political reversal, Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera has conceded defeat in the September 16 presidential election on Wednesday, paving the way for a return to power of former President Peter Mutharika.

"It is only right that I concede defeat out of respect for your will as citizens and out of respect for the constitution," Chakwera said in a national address. 

His concession came just hours before the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) was due to announce the final official results.

The move follows a tense period of vote counting and legal challenges. On Tuesday, the High Court of Malawi rejected an application by Chakwera and his Malawi Congress Party (MCP) to block the announcement of the presidential results, though it granted them permission to seek a judicial review of their complaints about electoral irregularities.

The Vote and the Results

The election was largely a contest between the incumbent, Chakwera, and the former president, Mutharika. This was the fourth electoral face-off between the two rivals. 

Mutharika's presidency from 2014 to 2020 was cut short when the constitutional court annulled his 2019 election victory due to irregularities, leading to a historic rerun that Chakwera won.

With partial results showing Mutharika with an insurmountable lead, pressure mounted on Chakwera to concede. 

Unofficial projections from major Malawian media outlets indicated that Mutharika had secured approximately 57% of the vote, comfortably above the 50% + 1 threshold needed to avoid a runoff. 

The MEC's own provisional results showed a similar trend, with Mutharika gaining around 66% of valid votes counted against Chakwera's 24% as of Monday.

A Concession Amid Challenges

Chakwera’s concession comes despite allegations of irregularities raised by his party. The MCP had claimed it found evidence of discrepancies in the vote count across 13 districts and had requested a physical audit of results. The election period was also marred by incidents including the arrest of eight data entry clerks in Lilongwe on suspicion of attempting to manipulate data.

Calls for Chakwera to accept the outcome had grown from various quarters, including the Malawi Council of Churches and former president Bakili Muluzi, who argued that conceding would demonstrate statesmanship and help preserve national peace.

Economic Crisis Looms Large

Analysts Peter Jegwa Kumwenda and Yamikani Chitete suggest that economic hardships were the decisive factor in the election. 

During Chakwera's term, Malawi grappled with high inflation, severe fuel shortages, constant power cuts and a deepening cost-of-living crisis. The International Monetary Fund terminated a $175 million loan program in May, exacerbating the country's financial woes.

Voters appeared to have turned to Mutharika, who campaigned on his record of lowering inflation and improving infrastructure during his previous term. 

His promised return to power marks a dramatic political comeback and underscores the voters' demand for change in Malawi, one of the poorest countries in Africa.

The Malawi Electoral Commission was expected to officially declare Mutharika the winner imminently.