In what has been tagged one of the most unpredictable elections in the country’s history, Malawians are going to the polls to elect a new president.
Although only three are seen as having a realistic shot at the seat, there are seven candidates vying for the post of the President.
President Peter Mutharika is running for a second term, but he is being challenged by his own vice-president, Saulos Chilima, and Lazarus Chakwera.
After 30 years of authoritarian rule, the southern African country returned to multi-party elections in 1994.
The winning candidate just needs to get the largest share of the votes cast rather than more than 50%. Mr Mutharika won the last election in 2014 with 36.4%.
These are the main hopefuls for the elections.
Lazarus Chakwera – Malawi Congress Party – hoping to revive the fortunes of the former ruling party
Saulos Chilima – UTM Party – current vice-president running against his boss
Peter Mutharika – Democratic Progressive Party – current president running for a second term
Close to seven million voters who are also registered are electing a new parliament and local councillors.
And more than half of those seven million who have registered are below the age of 34 and the youth vote may become a significant factor.
Mr Chilima, who is 46, left the president’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) last year after he fell out with Mr Mutharika after his fitness to run for office, at the age of 78, was questioned.
Election in numbers
6.9 million registered voters
54% of them are between the ages of 18 and 34
56% of registered voters are female
All 7 presidential candidates are male
More than 5,000 polling stations across the country
Polls open for 12 hours from 06:00 local time (04:00 GMT)
With extremely high rates of poverty, the economy, and more specifically, the state of agriculture, has been a very big issue.
The government, however, has been praised for the farm-input subsidy programme to help low-income farmers but opposition parties say it has been fraught with corruption, another major issue on the campaign trail.