Malawi counts votes in a presidential election where economic turmoil was the top issue

BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) — Malawi began counting votes Tuesday in a presidential election that's expected to be a tight race between old rivals that could go to a runoff and comes at a time of economic turmoil in one of the world’s least-developed countries.

Voters faced a choice between giving President Lazarus Chakwera, 70, a second term or selecting another leader to solve the southern African nation’s soaring inflation, cost-of-living crisis and critical fuel shortages.

Among the 16 other candidates, former President Peter Mutharika, 85, is viewed as a strong challenger to return as leader.

The two rivals faced off in 2019, when Mutharika's victory as the incumbent over challenger Chakwera was nullified by a court because of widespread irregularities. Chakwera won an historic rerun of that vote in 2020.

While Chakwera’s election was greeted with an outpouring of public support, the national mood has changed after five hard years for a largely rural country that already had high levels of poverty.

Polls closed in Tuesday's one-day vote and counting began by late afternoon, according to election officials. By law the results must be announced within a week. Voters will also choose the makeup of Parliament and more than 500 local government representatives.

Another former president, Joyce Banda, is also running for the top position as is Vice President Michael Usi, but analysts see it as a two-horse race between Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party and Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party.

“The cost of living is high, and with that many problems have increased,” said Patrick Holeya, a 48-year-old father of six from Thyolo.

Holeya said he cast a vote for Mutharika in the former president’s home district.

“I hope my vote will lead to caring leadership. For too long politicians have snubbed us, but today we are the kingmakers,” he said.

These are the first national elections since 2020, when Malawi redid the chaotic 2019 presidential election that was nullified by a court ruling.

Chakwera, a former theology instructor and preacher, won the redo after Mutharika’s victory was ruled to be fraudulent.

It was only the second time in Africa that a presidential election result was canceled and redone and the first time an African incumbent was removed in a redo election.

Since then, inflation has surged from around 8% to 27% under Chakwera and there are critical shortages of fuel and sugar. Long lines at gas stations have become part of daily life, while stark price increases have meant everyday food items like the staple corn have become unaffordable for many.

Cyclone Freddy in 2023 and an El Niño-inspired drought in 2024 destroyed crops, worsening hardship in a country where more than 80% of the population of 21 million live in rural areas and rely on agriculture.

A military plane crash last year killed Vice President Saulos Chilima, who was seen as a leader in waiting.

Malawians waited patiently in voting queues in the capital, Lilongwe, and the country's commercial hub, Blantyre, as polls opened soon after 6 a.m.

Chakwera voted at an elementary school in Lilongwe alongside his wife but didn't make any remarks. During the campaign he acknowledged the problems but said he had plans to resolve them, and that other candidates were making “empty promises.”

Mutharika said after voting that the elections “will change the direction of this country," adding that "It will bring a new government and maybe the new government will try its best to correct some of the problems.”

The presidential election is likely to go to a runoff after the failed 2019 vote prompted a change in Malawian electoral law. The format implemented after 2020 requires the winner to receive more than 50% of the vote. Because no candidate is expected to get more than 50% in the first round, a runoff and another vote pitting Chakwera against Mutharika is expected.

Any runoff must be held within 30 days of the results announcement.

Mutharika has a long history in Malawian politics, having served in the Cabinet under his older brother, Bingu wa Mutharika, who was president from 2004 to 2012. Peter Mutharika then served as president from 2014 to 2020. He is taking another shot at the presidency despite a court finding evidence of fraud in his win six years ago, including the use of correctional fluid to change vote tally sheets.

Around 7.2 million people registered to vote, just 65% of those who are eligible and down from 80% in 2019. The Malawi Electoral Commission is under close scrutiny to ensure a free and fair election after 2019.

Malawi is a former British protectorate that won independence in 1964. It was ruled for 30 years by the autocratic Hastings Banda until 1994 but has developed a relatively peaceful multiparty democracy over the last two decades.

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Election volunteers count ballots in Blantyre, Malawi, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Thoko Chikondi)

People line up to cast their votes in Blantyre, Malawi, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Thoko Chikondi)

Malawi's presidential candidate, former President Peter Mutharika stands on a voting booth as he prepares to cast his vote in Thyolo District, Malawi, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Thoko Chikondi)

Malawi's President Lazarus Chakwera casting his vote at Malembo polling station in Lilongwe, Malawi, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Govati Nyirenda)

An election worker checks names in electoral rolls at a polling station in Thyolo District, Malawi, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Thoko Chikondi)

An elderly woman casts her vote during the elections, where the country will choose a president, lawmakers and local government representatives, in Blantyre, Malawi, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Thoko Chikondi)

Election worker check names from electoral rolls at a polling station in Blantyre, Malawi, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Thoko Chikondi)

People line up to cast their votes in Blantyre, Malawi, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Thoko Chikondi)

People line up to cast their votes in Blantyre, Malawi, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Thoko Chikondi)

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) leader and presidential candidate Peter Mutharika speaks to supporters at a campaign rally in Zomba, Malawi, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thoko Chikondi)

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) leader and Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera waves at supporters at a campaign rally in Blantyre, Malawi, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thoko Chikondi)

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters cheer at a campaign rally in Zomba, Malawi, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thoko Chikondi)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A new Tennessee law has eased up on two longstanding financial hurdles for people with felony sentences who want their voting rights back, including a unique requirement among states that they must have fully paid their child support costs.

The Republican-supermajority Legislature approved the Democratic-sponsored change, which now lets people prove they have complied for the last year with child support orders, such as payment plans. The legislation also unties the payment of all court costs from voting rights restoration.

Advocates for years have sought various changes to Tennessee’s voting rights restoration system at the statehouse and in court. They say loosening these two rules marks the biggest rollback of restrictions to voting rights restoration in decades.

“This is huge and this is history,” said Keeda Haynes, senior attorney for the advocacy group Free Hearts led by formerly incarcerated women like her.

Most Republicans voted for it and Democrats supported it unanimously. The law took effect immediately upon Republican Gov. Bill Lee's signature last week.

“I think people are at a point where they want to just remove the barriers out of the way and allow people to be fully functional members of society,” said Democratic House Minority Leader Karen Camper, a bill sponsor.

In 2023 and early 2024, the state shelved a paperwork process that didn’t require going to court and decided gun rights were required to restore the right to vote. Election officials said a court ruling made the changes necessary, though voting rights advocates said officials misinterpreted the order.

Last year, lawmakers untangled voting and gun rights. But voting rights advocates opposed some of the bill's other provisions, such as keeping the process in the courts, where costs can rack up if someone isn't ruled indigent.

Easing up on the financial requirements uncommonly split legislative Republicans. For instance, Senate Speaker Randy McNally voted against it, while House Speaker Cameron Sexton supported it, noting that people aren't getting forgiveness on making their payments.

“They need to continue paying that, and as long as they do, then there’s a possibility (to restore their voting rights)," Sexton said. "I really think that’s harder for people to argue against than maybe what something else was.”

Republican Rep. Johnny Garrett, who voted no, said in committee his vote would hinge on whether “there still can be an (child support) arrearage owed beyond that 12 months.”

For some, backed-up child support payments could reach hundreds or thousands of dollars, and court costs could be hundreds or thousands more, said Gicola Lane, Campaign Legal Center's Restore Your Vote community partnership senior manager.

Advocates credited their narrowed focus, omitting goals such as automatic restoration of rights, no longer tying restitution payments to voting rights, or offering a path for certain people to restore their right who are permanently disenfranchised, including those convicted of voter fraud or most murder charges.

The bill passed the Senate last year and the House this year.

Lawmakers gave the child support requirement final passage in 2006 within an overhaul bill that also created a voting rights restoration process outside of court. Critics said the child support rule penalized impoverished parents.

Democrats were then narrowly hanging onto legislative leadership in both chambers. Republicans held a slim Senate majority but GOP defectors voted for a Democratic speaker.

Last year marked the dismissal of a nearly five-year-old federal lawsuit over Tennessee’s voting-rights restoration system. Free Hearts and the Campaign Legal Center represented plaintiffs in the long-delayed case, which saw some election policy changes along the way.

Roughly 184,000 people have completed supervision for felonies and their offenses don't preclude them from restoring their voting rights, according to a plaintiffs expert’s 2023 estimate in the lawsuit. About one in 10 were estimated to have outstanding child support payments, and more than six in 10 owed court courts, restitution or both, the expert said.

Both Republican and Democratic-led states have eased the voting rights restoration process in recent years. Some states have added complexities.

In Florida, after voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2018 restoring the right to vote for people with felony convictions, the Republican-controlled Legislature watered that down by requiring payment of fines, fees and court costs.

Voting rights are automatically restored upon release in nearly half of states. In 15 others, it occurs after parole, probation or a similar period and sometimes requires paying outstanding court costs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In Maine and Vermont, people with felonies keep their voting rights in prison, the NCSL says.

Ten other states including Tennessee require additional government action. Virginia ’s governor must intervene to restore voting rights of people convicted of felonies. In some states, including Tennessee, certain conviction types render someone ineligible.

However, Virginia lawmakers this year have passed a proposed state constitutional amendment to ask voters whether they want automatic voting rights restoration after someone is released from prison. Kentucky lawmakers have proposed a similar change for voters' consideration that would automatically restore voting rights after certain completed sentences, including probation.

FILE - The Tennessee Capitol is seen, Jan. 22, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)