It was third time lucky for Lazarus Chakwera, Malawi’s evangelist-turned-president after he staged an upset in the country’s just ended presidential election rerun despite several attempts to ensure he does not become the country’s number one citizen.
After narrowly missing out twice in presidential elections in 2014 and 2019, the 65-year-old Chakwera finally managed to secure the ticket to occupy Sanjika Palace for the next five years.
The president-elect, an eloquent speaker and of a calm demeanour, secured 58.6 percent of the vote in a presidential election rerun held on June 23 against 38 percent for incumbent President Peter Mutharika.
The rerun was called after Chakwera and another opposition leader, Vice President Saulos Chilima of the United Transformation Movement, challenged the outcome of last year’s presidential elections that had been won by Mutharika.
They successfully proved in court that the election had been rigged in favour of the incumbent.
True to his nature, the president-elect views his landmark triumph in the June 23 poll as a victory for all Malawians irrespective of their political hues.
“This win is for all of us. Those that voted for me and those who did not vote for me, know that I’m a servant for all of you,” he told journalists soon after the announcement of the results on Saturday.
But who is Malawi’s president-elect?
Chakwera was born to a subsistence farmer on the outskirt of the capital Lilongwe in April 1955.
Two of his elder brothers died in infancy and his father, believing that he would survive, gave him the name Lazarus as the Bible character who was raised from the dead.
It is this Biblical link that the Malawian press played with on Sunday.
“Lazarus Rises!” screamed the headline in the Nation On Sunday.
This was in apparent reference to the fact that, like the Biblical Lazarus who is said to have risen from the dead after three days, Chakwera emerged victorious on the third attempt.
During general elections held in May 2014, he narrowly lost to Peter Mutharika amid allegations that the polls were rigged.
Chakwera however conceded defeat and urged all Malawians to maintain peace, accept the outcome and wait for the next elections to upset the apple cart.
Before becoming a politician, the president-elect headed the Malawi Assemblies of God church from 1989 to May 2013 when he decided to run for political office.
Since August 2013, he has been leader of the Malawi Congress Party which had ruled Malawi under independence leader Hastings Kamuzu Banda for thirty years.
Chakwera is married to Monica and together they have four children.
His immediate task after being sworn in on Sunday would be to mend a politically fractious country.
JN/APA