Malawians entered the 2025 election season with hope, only to endure days of anxious waiting as the Malawi Electoral Commission worked on the results to beat the eight-day deadline.
The voting itself, held on Tuesday morning September 16, drew massive queues across the country.
The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) would later describe the election day as “a very good day for democracy”, with chief observer Lucia Annunziata noting: “The commitment with the vote was amazing. Men and women stood in line with small children, peacefully and determined to make their voices heard.”
But as night fell, the atmosphere changed.
Anxious wait
Hours after polls closed, MEC got busy at the National Tally Centre in Lilongwe receiving results from polling centres nationwide.
On polling day, Malawians went to bed “without an idea of who their next leaders” would be, with MEC chairperson Justice Annabel Mtalimanja disclosing that nothing had reached the National Tally Centre yet.
“As of 8pm, we had retrieved results from 15 127 out of 15 148 polling stations, representing 99.86 percent,” she said. “However, these results must first pass through constituency and district tally centres before reaching us here.”
Mtalimanja repeatedly pleaded for patience, warning that results management is “highly sensitive” and easily disrupted by political pressure or misinformation.
“The conduct of the candidates plays a crucial role in maintaining peace. Candidates are urged to avoid making premature claims of victory and wait for the official announcement from the commission,” she told journalists.
But the silence from MEC quickly created a vacuum that political parties rushed to fill.
At parallel press briefings, both the then governing Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) urged their supporters to remain calm although each hinted at confidence of victory, contradicting their own appeals.
MCP publicist Jessie Kabwila struck a cautious but buoyant note: “MEC has yet to release the official results, so we will wait for them. However, we are confident of victory because we have delivered what people want.”
DPP officials pushed back sharply. Organising secretary Sameer Suleman accused MCP of “hypocrisy”.
“Every party must wait for official results from MEC,” he said while suggesting that the DPP had won.
DPP’s Ben Phiri added a sting to the growing political tension: “If a party is comfortable with how it has performed, it will wait for the official results instead of rushing to declare itself a winner.”
Political Science Association publicity secretary Mavuto Bamusi warned that such jockeying threatened to ignite conflict.
“The pace at which results are trickling in is significantly slow compared to what one would expect,” he said. “Such delays may be exploited by parties to start announcing results themselves.”
Although he rated polling day “8 out of 10”, Bamusi said the results chain required “closer scrutiny”.
Unsealed boxes spark uproar
Just as the tallying process began to move, another twist disturbed the fragile calm.
On the third night, several boxes containing Election Management Devices (EMDs) arrived at the National Tally Centre unsealed. The worst cases came from Nkhata Bay, where 42 out of 45 boxes arrived without seals.
DPP nerve-centre team leader Mutchanakhwaye Mpuluka was furious.
“We are disappointed with what has happened,” he said. “Everyone knows these boxes should come sealed to allay suspicions. What has happened is uncalled for and we demand MEC addresses it accordingly. If these mismatch in any way, then you will see reaction.”
UTM Party director of elections Bright Kawaga echoed the anger.
“We had expected MEC officials deployed to manage these elections to do the rightful thing. Unfortunately, that’s not what has come here. As a party we do not want to be going to court for something MEC could have controlled. But the way things are going, it seems MEC has lost control,” he said.
Meanwhile, the stand-off halted the handover process for about 20 minutes, with agents refusing to proceed until MEC agreed to print hard copies of all EMD results for verification.
Observers praise peace but flag deep structural faults
While tensions grew at the tally centre, international and local observers offered sober assessments of the election.
Annunziata, presenting the EU EOM’s preliminary findings, warned that the campaign field had been far from level.
“When you are in government, you have more money, more influence and more access to State resources. This inevitably gives the incumbents an advantage,” she said.
She criticised Malawi Broadcasting Corporation for failing to meet neutrality rules, saying: “Public opinion is shaped through media, and media access was unbalanced.”
The mission also highlighted misuse of public resources and unregulated campaign financing.
Meanwhile, Head of the European Parliament delegation, Reinhold Lopatka, urged leaders to manage the post-election phase responsibly.
“Parties should wait calmly and patiently for the final results,” he said. “For Malawians to keep their trust in democracy, political leaders must now focus on addressing the dire economic situation.”
MISA Malawi chairperson Golden Matonga said the EU report “vindicates long-standing concerns” about MBC’s partisanship, while Civil Society Elections Integrity Forum chairperson Benedicto Kondowe warned that the highlighted weaknesses “require urgent institutional reforms”.
MEC insists pace is deliberate, not suspicious
Facing pressure from all sides, Mtalimanja reiterated that MEC would “not hurry the results management process just because some political party leaders are piling up pressure.”
“Each vote will be subject to due process to ensure its validity and credibility,” she stressed.
She also clarified a major public misconception:
“For the presidential election, the winner should get more than 50 percent of the valid votes cast, not of registered voters. In other words, the number one candidate must amass more votes than the sum of the rest.”
True to her words, on the night of 24 September 2025 the MEC declared then former president and DPP candidate Arthur Peter Mutharika winner of the September 16 poll with 3 035 249 votes, representing 56.8 percent of the valid votes cast, way ahead of his main rival, the MCP’s and then President Lazarus Chakwera’s 1.8 million votes.
Chakwera’s concession of the result earlier in the day, coming after a majority of the other 15 contestants had also done so, vindicated Mtalimanja and her commission’s calm and meticulous handling of the poll results.
A tense wait defines the year
By year’s end, the 2025 election would be remembered not for violence or chaos at the polls, but for the uneasy stillness that followed – an anxious nation watching tally centres, waiting for numbers, rumours swirling, political pressure mounting, and the integrity of the process under scrutiny.
It was a year that affirmed Malawians’ commitment to democratic participation, but exposed deep systemic weaknesses long overdue for reform.
And summing up the atmosphere that hung over the post-election days, Annunziata stated: “One thing is election day. Another thing is the result.”
