The former President of Malawi, Peter Mutharika, the 85-year-old has been declared the winner of last week's elections.
This is a dramatic comeback having lost to Lazarus Chakwera in 2020 after a hotly contested 2019 Presidential Election.
Official results show that Muthalika won 57% of the vote, compared to the 33% of President Lazarus Chakwera, the 70 year-old.
Chakwera, a pastor before political career, conceded defeat in a phone call to Peter Muthalika to congratulate him on his "historic win".
Mutharika, a former professor of law, served as president from 2014 to 2020, when he lost to Chakwera by a wide margin.
He inherits an economy that is in deep crisis, with a severe shortage of fuel and foreign currency.
The election commission took the full eight days vote counting and tabulation to announce the final results.
The 2019 election, also won by Mutharika, was annulled by the country's highest court, which found there had been widespread irregularities.
Chakwera won the rerun by a huge margin in 2020. The 2025 General election was the pair’s fourth electoral duel.
Mutharika's older brother Bingu wa Muthalika also served as president and died in office in 2012.
In his concession speech, Chakwera said that even though he had concerns about "irregularities" and "anomalies", he was accepting the outcome out of respect for the majority of Malawians' "collective will to have a change of government".
"The anomalies do not necessarily mean that the election result projecting Professor Mutharika as the winner is not credible or a reflection of the will of the people," he said.
His speech sparked celebrations among Mutharika's supporters in Lilongwe, singing and dancing on the streets.
This result can be seen more as a rejection of Chakwera than a victory for Mutharika.
Under President Chakwera, Malawi's list of problems just grew too long.
Mutharika was rarely seen in public during the campaign, in contrast to Chakwera who held numerous rallies across Malawi.
The swearing-in ceremony must be organised between seven and 30 days after the announcement of the result.
