The United Nations is calling for immediate investigation of a dozen killings driven by this macabre belief.

UN resident coordinator in Malawi Maria Jose Torres says in addition probing the killings, authorities must arrest and prosecute the perpetrators, provide psychological and medical support for the victims and dispel the harmful belief in bloodsuckers that has led to the deaths.

President  Peter Mutharika has linked the bloodsucker killings in the south and centre of his country to those of albinos who are murdered because their bones allegedly have magical properties.

Facing a re-run election next month, Mutharika’s  accused his political opposition of perpetuating the vampire fears to create alarm among voters.

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This casts into doubt the central African country’s ability to organise new elections in July as ordered by the the Constitutional Court.

The Malawian who has tested positive for coronavirus travelled to India  Two people who came into contact with him have also tested positive.

President Peter Mutharika declared a state of emergency  last month that closed the country’s borders.

The second term he won at the helm has been overturned by the Constitutional Court that found the elections last May were fraudulent.

Malawi’s electoral commission has announced new elections in early July.

It remains to be seen whether these can be organized with the COVID 19 pandemic raging around the the world.

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A re-run must now take place within five months.

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The Constitutional Court upheld the finds of widespread irregularities in the elections last year.

It rejected President Peter Mutharika’s appeal that would have it suspend the judgement ordering a  new poll.

The court further rejected the claim by the Electoral Commission that holding another election will be too expensive.

Democracy is costly, the judges found, but the will of the people is paramount.

Analysts say there would have been a coup if the heavily disputed election  result had been upheld.

Mutharika has yet to commit to contest a re-run.

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President Peter Mutharika will stay in power until then.

The Constitutional Court found there had been widespread irregularities in Malawi’s Presidential election last year.

Peter Mutharika won a second term in that poll with a margin of 160 000 votes.

Second placed Lazarus Chakwere maintains he won.

Third placed Saulos Chilima also cried foul.

The annulment is the second in African history.

Kenya’s Supreme Court, citing irregularities,  annulled the August 2017 election won by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

It ordered the appointment of a new electoral commission.

Kenyatta won the re-run in October after his main opponent Raila Odinga withdrew.

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The decision by the five judges could become the second time an African court has ordered a fresh election because of irregularities.

President Peter Mutharika has been dubbed the Tipp Ex President because of correcting fluid used to change results figures  in last year’s election.

Persistent demonstrations since then have become increasingly violent, prompting former President Joyce Banda to say Malawi is burning.

Saulus Chilima, a losing candidate who claims to have won the presidency,  says the the demonstrations are merely a warm up for the protests that will occur if the court rules in Mutharika’s favour. 

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There has been looting by the protestors demanding the sacking of the electoral commission head they claim helped President Peter Mutharika rig the result.

Malawi’s opposition parties maintain typewriter correction fluid was used to change figures on results sheets from the May election won by Peter Mutharika with 38,6 % of the vote.

Lazarus Chakwera, who quit as Deputy President because he says Mutharika did not effectively fight corruption, maintains he won the election.

Soldiers have been deployed on the streets of Blantyre and Lilongwe to prevent looting, but companies including South Africa’s Multichoice have boarded up their shops as a precaution.

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Police in armored vehicles are dealing with angry crowds stoning government buildings in the capital Lilongwe.

The main opposition Malawi Congress Party has recorded 147 complaints in 10 of the country’s 28 voting districts.

Lazarus Chakwera says correction fluid, better known as tippex, has been used to alter  counting sheets. The same handwriting has been found on results from polling stations several kilometers apart.

Chakwera had won 35-and-a-half percent of votes after three-quarters were tallied at the electoral commission results centre. This left him trailing incumbent Peter Mutharika who has 50%.

Vice President Saulos Chilima  is a distant 18%.

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The election currently underway in Malawi perfectly illustrates the generational battle in African politics.

Peter Mutharika, vying for a second and final term as President, has a record of achievement to show voters.

He’s brought down inflation this past five years from 14% to 9%.

He is promising the people of one Africa’s poorest countries that Malawi is going  the way of Singapore or Malaysia.

This is somewhat hyperbolic given that more than half the nearly 19-million Malawians live under the poverty line.

Food shortages dog daily life and the 11% of the population with electricity suffer frequent power outages.

Mutharika’s image has been further dented by his having to return a $200 000 campaign donation from a businessman implicated in a $3-million scam involving the contract for supplying food to the police force.

There are seven faces on the presidential ballot paper competing for the votes of seven million electors.

Mutharika’s main rival is his former hand-picked  vice president Saulos Chilima who broke with him last year when it became clear he was running for a second term.

The incumbent, who is a former law professor, is 78 years old.

His sister-in-law Callista, widow of former President Bingu Wa Mutharika, is among those who have advised him that he has passed his sell-by date.

This is a telling argument with more than half of the electorate younger than 35 years.

Former telecoms executive Chilima is 46.

The third frontrunner is former Lazarus Chakwera who ran second to Mutharika in 2014.

He has revived Hastings Banda’s Malawi Congress  Party  and secured the endorsement of former President Joyce Banda. Chakwera is 64.

Age has been a determining factor in a number of recent African political contests.

In South Africa, Julius Malema and Mmusi Maimane, both 38, made much of the fact they were running against 66-year-old Cyril Ramaphosa.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, 74, is going to extraordinary and unconstitutional lengths  to ward off the challenge of Pop-singer-turned MP Bobi Wine, who is 37.

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa, 76, had his work cut keeping 41-year-old Nelson Chamisa at bay.

Two African presidents have fallen to popular protest this year.

In Sudan, Omar Al Bashir is 75.

Algeria’s Abdelaziz Bouteflika is 82. 

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There are seven presidential candidates, three of whom are strongly contesting the contest fort the top job.

Peter Mutharika simply has to win a majority of votes to return for a second and final term as President.

He won the presidency in 2014 with 36,4 % of the votes.

His chief rivals are his hand-picked vice president Saulos Chilema and Lazarus Chadera who has revived the Malawi Congress Party of Hastings Banda

The electoral commission is having another bash at collecting snd tallying votes electronically after the system collapsed in 2014 forcing them to resort to more conventional fax and eMail

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This will make for an exciting contest between President Peter Mutharika, his vice president Saulos Chilima and the man he beat in 2014, Lazarus Chakwera. Results are expected within eight days.

Voting in Malawi’s most keenly contested presidential and parliament elections to date has been peaceful despite some hitches.

Contender Saulos Chilima has to wait 40 minutes to cast his ballot because of confusion over which voting station he should have used.

Malawi’s presidential election is winner-take-all affair. There is no provision for a run off

In 2014 Peter Mutharika won with 36.4%of the vote off a 70% turnout.

Observers are saying the numbers will be even higher this time round. 

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