Malawi's opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera appeared to be heading for victory Thursday, in a re-run of a presidential vote that was scrapped over massive irregularities, unofficial tallies showed.
Voters went to the polls on Tuesday for the second time in 13 months to elect a president after the Constitutional Court ordered fresh elections in a historic vote seen as a test for democracy in the southern African country.
The cancellation of Mutharika's victory last year made Malawi just the second country south of the Sahara to have presidential poll results set aside, after Kenya in 2017.
"If Dr Chakwera had won the election fair and square I would have congratulated him, but unfortunately that is not the case," said Atupele Muluzi, one of Mutharika's main electoral alliance partners.
Mmusi Maimane, the former leader of South Africa's main opposition Democratic Alliance, also tweeted: "My friend, brother and leader has just won the Malawian elections.... Change is coming," Maimane wrote.
