Counting is under way in Malawi after a presidential election that comes as the southeast African nation faces its worst economic crisis in decades, with soaring inflation, food shortages and the mounting impacts of climate change.

Seventeen candidates are running for president, but the race is widely viewed as a contest between incumbent Lazarus Chakwera, 70, and his predecessor Peter Mutharika, 85.

The rivals have met twice at the ballot box: first in 2014, when Mutharika won, and again in 2020, when Chakwera triumphed in a rerun with 59 percent after the original vote was annulled for irregularities.

Long lines formed outside polling stations on Tuesday morning, before the turnout fell sharply later in the day. By mid-afternoon, the electoral commission reported only 51 percent tur

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