Over seven million voters went to the polls yesterday, May 20, 2014, in general elections.

Though 12 candidates ran in yesterday’s presidential poll, four are thought to have a strong chance of winning. Parliamentary and local elections were also held, with 7.5 million people eligible to vote. A high turn-out was witnessed as a result of the extremely competitive nature of the vote.

The candidate with the most votes will be declared the winner of the presidential race as there is no run-off. Results of the presidential poll are expected today, Wednesday, May 21, 2014 or early tomorrow. The frontrunners were incumbent Joyce Banda of the People's Party, PP, a preacher-turned-politician, Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party, MCP, Atupele Muluzi of the United Democratic Front, UDF, and Peter Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party, DPP.

Many polling stations did not open on time yesterday, May 20, 2014, and there were multiple reports of rigging across the city. Al Jazeera TV said many people grew frustrated with the voting process in the long queues. The BBC reported that voting was delayed in parts of the largest city, Blantyre as a result of shortage of election material. Agency reports cited electoral officials as saying in the morning that they were still waiting for ink as there were reports of angry scenes at some polling stations. But in the capital, Lilongwe, voting started on time.

Mutharika is the younger brother of former President Bingu wa Mutharika while Atupele is the son of ex-President Bakili Muluzi. None of the four has contested a presidential election before.

Joyce Banda came to power two years ago after the sudden death of President Bingu wa Mutharika. She is one of three female Presidents in Africa (the others are Catherine Samba-Panza of the Central African Republic and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia) and is also the current chair of the Southern African Development Community, SADC.

President Banda initially enjoyed huge goodwill, but her popularity waned after she imposed austerity measures to stabilise the economy. Her reputation for probity was recently hit by a 15-million US Dollar (about FCFA 7 billion) corruption scandal after senior government officials were accused of swindling State funds. Over 80 people have been arrested and a former cabinet minister dismissed and put on trial for money laundering and attempted murder.