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)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison Friday in the first verdict from eight criminal trials over the martial law debacle that forced him out of office and other allegations.

Yoon was impeached, arrested and dismissed as president after his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024 triggered huge public protests calling for his ouster.

The most significant criminal charge against him alleges that his martial law enforcement amounted to a rebellion, and the independent counsel has requested the death sentence in the case that is to be decided in a ruling next month.

Yoon has maintained he didn’t intend to place the country under military rule for an extended period, saying his decree was only meant to inform the people about the danger of the liberal-controlled parliament obstructing his agenda. But investigators have viewed Yoon’s decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, charging him with rebellion, abuse of power and other criminal offenses.

In Friday’s case, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yoon for defying attempts to detain him, fabricating the martial law proclamation, and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting and thus depriving some Cabinet members who were not convened of their due rights to deliberate on his decree.

Judge Baek Dae-hyun said in the televised ruling that imposing “a grave punishment” was necessary because Yoon hasn’t shown remorse and has only repeated “hard-to-comprehend excuses.” The judge also restoring legal systems damaged by Yoon’s action was necessary.

Yoon’s defense team said they will appeal the ruling, which they believe was “politicized” and reflected “the unliberal arguments by the independent counsel.” Yoon’s defense team argued the ruling “oversimplified the boundary between the exercise of the president’s constitutional powers and criminal liability.”

Prison sentences in the multiple, smaller trials Yoon faces would matter if he is spared the death penalty or life imprisonment at the rebellion trial.

Park SungBae, a lawyer who specializes in criminal law, said there is little chance the court would decide Yoon should face the death penalty in the rebellion case. He said the court will likely issue a life sentence or a sentence of 30 years or more in prison.

South Korea has maintained a de facto moratorium on executions since 1997 and courts rarely hand down death sentences. Park said the court would take into account that Yoon’s decree didn’t cause casualties and didn’t last long, although Yoon hasn’t shown genuine remorse for his action.

South Korea has a history of pardoning former presidents who were jailed over diverse crimes in the name of promoting national unity. Those pardoned include strongman Chun Doo-hwan, who received the death penalty at a district court over his 1979 coup, the bloody 1980 crackdowns of pro-democracy protests that killed about 200 people, and other crimes.

Some observers say Yoon will likely retain a defiant attitude in the ongoing trials to maintain his support base in the belief that he cannot avoid a lengthy sentence but could be pardoned in the future.

On the night of Dec. 3, 2024, Yoon abruptly declared martial law in a televised speech, saying he would eliminate “anti-state forces” and protect “the constitutional democratic order.” Yoon sent troops and police officers to encircle the National Assembly, but many apparently didn’t aggressively cordon off the area, allowing enough lawmakers to get into an assembly hall to vote down Yoon’s decree.

No major violence occurred, but Yoon's stunt caused the biggest political crisis in South Korea and rattled its diplomacy and financial markets. For many, his decree, the first of its kind in more than four decades in South Korea, brought back harrowing memories of past dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s, when military-backed leaders used martial law and emergency measures to deploy soldiers and tanks on the streets to suppress demonstrations.

After Yoon's ouster, his liberal rival Lee Jae Myung became president via a snap election last June. After taking office, Lee appointed three independent counsels to look into allegations involving Yoon, his wife and associates.

Yoon's other trials deal with charges like ordering drone flights over North Korea to deliberately inflame animosities to look for a pretext to declare martial law. Other charges accuse Yoon of manipulating the investigation into a marine’s drowning in 2023 and receiving free opinion surveys from an election broker in return for a political favor.

A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shouts slogans outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol waits for a bus carrying former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs as police officers stand guard outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A picture of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is placed on a board as supporters gather outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)