2025 Malawian general election

2025 Malawian general election

16 September 2025
Presidential election
Registered	7,203,390
Candidate Lazarus Chakwera Peter Mutharika Joyce Banda Party MCP DPP PP
Incumbent President Lazarus Chakwera Malawi Congress Party
Legislative election
All 229 seats in the National Assembly 115 seats needed for a majority
Party Leader Last election DPP Peter Mutharika 62 MCP Lazarus Chakwera 55 UDF Atupele Muluzi 10 PP Joyce Banda 5 UTM Dalitso Kabambe 4 AFORD Enoch Chihana 1 Independents – 55 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

General elections are scheduled to be held in Malawi on 16 September 2025 to elect the president, the 229 members of the National Assembly and 509 local government councillors.

Background

The 2025 elections will be the second conducted under the 50 + 1 constitutional threshold introduced after the annulment of the 2019 Malawian general election and the subsequent fresh presidential election the following year that brought Lazarus Chakwera to power. In July 2024 the United Transformation Movement (UTM) withdrew from the governing Tonse Alliance, leaving the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) to contest the elections on its own.

Electoral system

The President of Malawi is elected using a two-round system. Should no candidate secure an absolute majority in the first round, a run-off is held within 30 days. Members of the National Assembly are elected in single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting.

According to the Malawi Electoral Commission, 7.2 million voters were enrolled after the three registration phases, with women constituting 57% of the electorate.

Parties and alliances

• Malawi Congress Party (MCP) – governing party of President Chakwera; running without the UTM following the collapse of the Tonse Alliance in 2024.
• Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) – main opposition party; endorsed former president Peter Mutharika as its presidential candidate in August 2024.
• People's Party (PP) – led by former president Joyce Banda, who relaunched her national campaign in June 2025.
• United Democratic Front (UDF) – headed by Atupele Muluzi, which has indicated it may field its own ticket if no opposition alliance is formed.
• United Transformation Movement (UTM) – Following the death of founder Saulos Chilima, vice-president Michael Usi became interim leader as per the party’s constitution. He initially expressed interest in leading the party, but did not contest at the November 2024 convention, where Dalitso Kabambe was elected as the new party leader.

Candidates

Declared

• Lazarus Chakwera – incumbent President; endorsed by the MCP in August 2024. His running mate is Vitumbiko Mumba, the Minister of Trade and Industry and former Labour Minister, who has been chosen despite MCP constitutional norms that typically favour the First Deputy President.
• Peter Mutharika – former President (2014–2020); nominated by the DPP. His running mate is Jane Ansah, the former Malawi Electoral Commission Chairperson.
• Joyce Banda – former President (2012–2014); announced her candidacy on 23 June 2025. Her running mate is Khumbo Kachali, her former Vice‑President during her 2012–2014 term.
• Dalitso Kabambe – Former governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi and candidate of the UTM party. His running mate is Matthews Mtumbuka.
• Atupele Muluzi – UDF president. His running mate is Dr Rex Kalolo.

Campaign

The official campaign period began on 14 July 2025 at the Bingu International Conference Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe, with activities continuing through 14 September, two days before polling on 16 September 2025, according to the MEC election calendar.

Presidential debates

Atupele Muluzi, Dalitso Kabambe, and Joyce Banda during the presidential debate. 21 August 2025

The Presidential Debates Taskforce, chaired by MISA Malawi, organised debates ahead of the 2025 general election with support from the National Democratic Institute. The first debate was held on 21 August 2025 at the Bingu International Conference Centre in Lilongwe and broadcast nationally. A second debate was rescheduled to 9 September 2025. Some major candidates, including President Lazarus Chakwera and former President Peter Mutharika, did not participate.

Conduct

Civil society and media advocates like MISA Malawi have called for unrestricted press freedom and safety for journalists, citing prior instances of intimidation during electoral periods.

The Malawi Electoral Commission has engaged six international observer missions, undertaken gender‑sensitive and risk‑management training, and facilitated party briefings on voter roll verification to reinforce preparedness and credibility.

On 27 August 2025, the Malawi Electoral Commission conducted a dry-run of its Results Management System (RMS) ahead of the general election. The exercise, held at the national tally centre in Lilongwe and in selected constituencies, aimed to test the speed, accuracy, and security of results transmission. The test revealed some challenges, including network glitches in Blantyre and Lilongwe that delayed the transmission of results. MEC acknowledged the issues but stated that the system’s integrity remained intact and pledged to resolve the problems before polling day.

Opinion polls

A poll conducted by IPOR Malawi in August 2025 reports the following support levels among respondents: Peter Mutharika: 41%, Lazarus Chakwera: 31%, Dalitso Kabambe: 6%, Atupele Muluzi: 3%, and Joyce Banda: 2%.

This latest finding updates and complements the previous IPOR Malawi poll from July 2025, in which Mutharika led expectations to win with 43%, compared to Chakwera's 26%.

Another poll conducted by Afrobarometer in August 2024 showed that 43% of respondents supported the Democratic Progressive Party, 29% the Malawi Congress Party, 7% the United Transformation Movement, and 2% the United Democratic Front.