ADDIS ABABA, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf has congratulated Peter Mutharika on his election as Malawi's president-elect.
On Wednesday, the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) announced that the country's former president Mutharika won the presidential election with 56.8 percent of the vote, securing a decisive lead over incumbent Lazarus Chakwera in the Sept. 16 presidential election.
In a statement issued late Wednesday, the AUC chairperson congratulated the president-elect on a "landmark election," and lauded the southern African country for practicing a "credible democratic process."
Youssouf also applauded Chakwera "for gracefully conceding defeat" even before the official results were announced by the MEC.
He commended the people of Malawi for their "enthusiastic, peaceful, and orderly engagement in this credible democratic process across the election cycle," and acknowledged former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn for his role as head of the Joint AU-COMESA Election Observation Mission to Malawi.
Mutharika, contesting on the Democratic Progressive Party ticket, secured nearly 3.04 million votes in the 17-candidate race, while Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party garnered around 1.77 million votes, according to the MEC.
The 85-year-old president-elect, who previously served from 2014 to 2020, will return to office with former MEC Chairperson Jane Ansah as his vice president. ■