Polls have opened in Malawi 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 severe fuel shortages, in a closely and fiercely contested election where a run-off is widely expected.

Polls opened at 6:00am (04:00 GMT) on Tuesday with 17 names on the ballot.

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Analysts say the race is between President Lazarus Chakwera, 70, and his predecessor, law professor Peter Mutharika, 85, both of whom have campaigned on improving the agriculture-dependent economy battered by a series of climate shocks, with inflation topping 27 percent.

Tuesday’s elections mark Malawi’s first national elections since the 2019 presidential vote was nullified and ordered to be redone in 2020 because of widespread irregularities.

However, both of the men have been accused of cronyism, corruption and economic mismanagement during their first presidential terms, leaving voters a choice between “two disappointments”, political commentator Chris Nhlane told the AFP news agency.

Though both drew large crowds to colourful final rallies at the weekend, many younger Malawians were reportedly uninspired.

With about 60 percent of the 7.2 million registered voters aged less than 35, activists have been mobilising to overcome apathy and get young voters to the polls.

“We are frustrated,” said youth activist Charles Chisambo, 34. “If people vote for Mutharika, it is just to have a change,” told AFP.

“We don’t need a leader, we need someone who can fix the economy.”

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The cost of living in one of the world’s poorest countries has surged 75 percent in 12 months, according to reports citing the Centre for Social Concern, a nongovernmental organisation.

Two seasons of drought and a devastating cyclone in 2023 have compounded hardships in a country where about 70 percent of the 21 million population lives in poverty, according to the World Bank.

Chakwera, from the Malawi Congress Party that led the nation to independence from Britain in 1964, has pleaded for continuity to “finish what we started”, flaunting several infrastructure projects under way.

Days earlier, he announced a huge drop in the high cost of fertiliser, a major complaint across the largely agricultural country.

Lydia Sibale, 48, a hospital administrator who had been in a petrol queue in Lilongwe for an hour, told AFP she still had confidence in Chakwera. “The only challenge is the economic crisis, which is worldwide,” she said.

Chakwera was elected with about 59 percent of the vote in the 2020 rerun, but, five years later, there is some nostalgia for Mutharika’s “relatively better administration”, said analyst Mavuto Bamusi.

“Chakwera’s incumbency advantage has significantly been messed up by poor economic performance,” he said.

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

“I will vote for APM (Mutharika) because he knows how to manage the economy and has Malawians’ welfare at heart,” 31-year-old student Thula Jere told AFP.

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