Malawi’s Vice-President Saulos Chilima says his name was not on the voter register this morning but was able to cast his ballot after a few phone calls to fix the matter. He is running for the UTM party against his boss the president.
Mr Chilima, who is 46, left President Peter Mutharika’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) last year after he fell out with Mr Mutharika after his fitness to run for office, at the age of 78, was questioned BBC reported.
Malawians are going to the polls to elect a new president in what has been described as one of the country’s most unpredictable elections.
There are seven candidates, but three are seen as having a realistic chance. President Peter Mutharika is running for a second term, but he is being challenged by his own vice-president, Saulos Chilima, and Lazarus Chakwera.
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The southern African country returned to multi-party elections in 1994 after 30 years of authoritarian rule.
The winning candidate just needs to get the largest share of the votes cast rather than more than 50 percent. Mr Mutharika won the last election in 2014 with 36.4 percent.
The nearly seven million registered voters are also electing a new parliament and local councillors.
More than half of those who have registered are under the age of 34 and the youth vote may become a significant factor.
There have been long queues at polling stations across the country.
Many of the voters turned up before dawn, hoping to vote early and go back to work. Voting day is not a public holiday in Malawi.
At the tax office polling station in the commercial capital, Blantyre, voting started nearly half an hour late, angering hundreds who had come early.
When I arrived 20 minutes before polls opened, electoral officials were scrambling to set up the voting stations.
People voiced their frustration at the electoral commission chairperson, who was at the centre to oversee the start of voting.
She managed to calm the crowd, and voting has been going on smoothly, albeit slowly. Delays have also been reported in other polling stations in the country.
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