Lazarus Chakwera

Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera (born 5 April 1955) is a Malawian politician, theologian, and pastor who served as the sixth president of Malawi from 2020 to 2025. A member of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), he has served as the party's president since 2013. He also served as President of the Malawian Assemblies of God from 1989 to 2013, and during his presidency concurrently served as Minister of Defense from 2020 to 2023.

Born in Lilongwe, Chakwera graduated from the University of Malawi in 1977 with a bachelor's degree in arts and philosophy. He then joined the Malawian Assemblies of God's School of Theology in 1983 where he became its president in 1996 and served in this role until 2000. During this time, Chakwera became the president of the Malawian Assemblies of God in 1989 and served in this role until his resignation 2013, when he entered politics and joined the Malawi Congress Party and was elected as the party's leader in August of that year. In the presidential election held the following year, Chakwera ran for the presidency, but while getting more votes than incumbent Joyce Banda, he lost to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)'s presidential candidate Peter Mutharika. In the 2019 presidential election, Chakwera lost again to Mutharika. However, in February 2020, the Constitutional Court annulled the election results citing irregularities and a rerun election was held, where Chakwera won.

During his presidency, Chakwera implemented governance and education reforms, improved international engagement, and made efforts to increase transparency. He built more schools, especially in rural areas and also improved some infrastructure in the country. However, Chakwera's presidency was overshadowed by economic challenges such as high inflation, rising cost of living, currency devaluation, and growing public debt. Despite his anti-corruption stance, Chakwera also faced criticism over corruption and nepotism, which he promises to fight when coming to office. Chakwera appointed relatives to his cabinet and also appointed people related to some members of his cabinet. Several protests also occurred during Chakwera's presidency, in July and October 2022 and 2024, all of which were against Chakwera and his government's slow handling of corruption cases and as well as the cost of living. In some of these peaceful demonstrations, protesters were attacked by masked, machete-wielding men, an incident condemned by rights groups and foreign missions. As a result of the economic crisis and the slow handling of corruption cases and as well as nepotism, Chakwera lost the 2025 presidential election to Mutharika.