Malawi voted in general elections Tuesday with the incumbent president and his predecessor vying for a second chance to govern the largely poor southern African nation battered by soaring costs and fuel shortages.

Thousands of people waited under trees or outside schools at outdoor polling stations across the mostly rural country for a vote focused on the faltering economy of one of the poorest countries in the world.

Seventeen candidates are running for president but observers say the race is between outgoing Lazarus Chakwera and Peter Mutharika who also duelled in the 2019 vote that was nullified over tampering and followed by a rerun.

Chakwera, a 70-year-old pastor, and law professor Mutharika, 85, have campaigned on improving the agriculture-dependent economy battered by drought in

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