Peter Mutharika was sworn in as Malawi’s newest president on Saturday, after being declared the winner of the southern African nation’s contested elections.
Mr. Mutharika, 74, took the oath at the high court in Malawi’s largest city, Blantyre, replacing Joyce Banda as President.
Hundreds of citizens had gathered in front of the court building to watch the arrival of Mutharika’s motorcade, singing and beating drums as he walked up the staircase.
In a brief address, Mr. Mutharika, brother of late president Bingu wa Mutharika and leader of opposition Democratic Progressive Party, described his political journey to the presidency as “long, hard and full of difficulties.”
Mr. Mutharika asked political parties and citizens to help “rebuilding this country. It is obvious that we are facing a lot of problems. We need to collectively fight these problems.” “We are one country, one people. We shall make sure we are united,” he added.
Mr. Mutharika had received 36.4 per cent of the votes, the national electoral commission announced late on Friday.
In second place, with 27.8 per cent of the votes, was evangelical preacher Lazarus Chakwera of another opposition party, the Malawi Congress Party.
In third place was incumbent Joyce Banda, with 20.2 per cent of the votes.
Ms. Banda, who attended the ceremony, congratulated Mr. Mutharika despite having charged election fraud.
The election commission wanted to delay announcement of the results until the results of a new vote count. But the high court demanded release of the results.
Voter turnout was 70.78 per cent.
Malawi’s 7.5 million citizens voted on May 20 for parliament, regional representatives and the presidency. The remaining results were to be released shortly.
A court injunction obtained by one of Malawi’s main opposition parties on Monday authorized the electoral commission to recount the votes to make sure the result was not influenced by fraud.
Ms. Banda has called for fresh elections within 90 days. She had said she would not contest new elections.
Meanwhile, DPP supporters from across Malawi were heading to Blantyre for Mr. Mutharika’s inauguration ceremony, scheduled for Sunday at the city’s Kamuzu Stadium.
All over the city, people were flying blue flags, the colour of the DDP.
“I am so happy that our candidate won. It was a tough race but we won,” said Christina Mbewe, who had travelled to Blantyre from the southern district of Mulanje.
“Tomorrow I will be at the stadium for the inauguration. We will be celebrating all night long,” said Charles Mulowa, another DDP supporter, who hails from Mr. Mutharika’s home district of Thyolo.
