Malawi election a battle of two presidents

MALAWI'S election is the third bout of a battle for power between two presidents, incumbent Lazarus Chakwera and his predecessor, Peter Mutharika.

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First-time candidate and former Reserve Bank governor Dalitso Kabambe could become a deciding factor in the September 16 ballot should the race move to a second round, as is widely expected.

Here are short profiles of the three:

Chakwera, second chance?

A charismatic former evangelical preacher who says he was called by God to govern his country, Chakwera's first term has been overshadowed by climate-linked disasters and economic crisis.

The leader of the country's oldest party, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), he strode past Mutharika to first take office in 2020 with nearly 59 percent of ballots.

The vote was a rerun after the nullification of the 2019 "Tippex Election" in which courts upheld opposition claims that correction fluid was used to alter vote tallies.

Mutharika had been narrowly ahead in the first take. Chakwera lost his first duel against Mutharika in 2014, afterwards taking a seat in parliament as leader of the opposition.