Former President Peter Mutharika is on the brink of reclaiming State House after official results from 24 district councils placed him well ahead of his closest challenger, incumbent President Lazarus Chakwera. Figures released by the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) show Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has amassed 2,022,879 votes, compared to 729,425 for Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP). The tallies give Mutharika control of 21 out of the 24 councils declared so far, cementing his front-runner status. With only 12 councils left to report, Mutharika requires fewer than 300,000 votes to cross the 50% +1 threshold for an outright win. By contrast, Chakwera faces what analysts describe as a near-impossible path: he would need to secure...