Sawt Falasteen - Malawi votes for a new president as economic crisis bites

Long queues formed at outdoor polling stations across the mostly rural nation for a vote focused on the faltering economy in 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 in 2020.

Chakwera, a 70-year-old pastor, and law professor Mutharika, 85, have campaigned on improving the agriculture-dependent economy that has been hit by drought and cyclones.

In urban centres, many young people -- who make up around 60 percent of the 7.2 million registered voters -- said they wanted change.

"There is anger in us," said Ettah Nyasulu, 28, a waitress in the capital Lilongwe, before heading to vote.

"I want to change this government. I want young people to be in good jobs, to have opportunities to change our lives," she said.

Inflation is running at above 27 percent, while the costs of living have surged and there is a crippling shortage of fuel and forex, which has forced limits on imports of fuel, fertiliser and food.

Around 70 percent of the majority young population of 21 million people live in poverty, according to the World Bank.

A spike in the price of fertiliser has been a major election concern with many Malawians surviving on rain-fed farming to produce tobacco, the main export, and the staple food, maize.

"There is a lot happening, especially concerning about forex, unemployment," said Rachel Chaguza, 26, a university graduate who sells flowers.

"We must scrutinise what is going wrong and change things for the better," she said after voting.

- 'Disappointments' -

In a mid-morning statement, the election authority said turnout appeared strong and the vote was generally running smoothly.

The election is also for seats in parliament and local wards. Polling stations close at 4:00 pm (1400 GMT) and ballot counting starts immediately, with the results expected as early as Thursday.

With a winner of the presidential ballot requiring more than 50 percent of votes, a run-off within 60 days is likely.

Chakwera and Mutharika have both been accused of cronyism, corruption and economic mismanagement in their first terms but other candidates -- including the only woman, former president Joyce Banda -- did not appear to be attracting significant support, according to polls.

Voters are confronted with a choice between "two disappointments", said political commentator Chris Nhlane.

"Both men embody unfulfilled potential and dashed hopes, yet Malawians must still choose a lesser liability between them," he told AFP.

Chakwera, from the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) that led the nation to independence from Britain in 1964, pleaded in his campaign for continuity to "finish what we started", flaunting several infrastructure projects.

"There have been complaints about the cost of living, the lack of resources, food scarcity," he told a rally on Saturday in Lilongwe, a MCP support base. "We will fix things," he said.

He was elected with around 59 percent in the 2020 rerun but five years later there is some nostalgia for Mutharika's "relatively better administration", said analyst Mavuto Bamusi.

"I want to rescue this country," Mutharika told a cheering weekend rally of his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the second city of Blantyre, the heartland of the party that has promised a "return to proven leadership" and economic reform.

T.Samara--SF-PST