[20200714]IF11601_马拉维：选举、关键问题和美国关系.pdf

https:/crsreports.congress.gov July 14, 2020Malawi: Elections, Key Issues, and U.S. RelationsOn June 23, 2020, 59% of voters in Malawi, a small, poor southeast African country, ousted incumbent President Peter Mutharika in favor of opposition presidential candidate Lazarus Chakwera during a rerun of a presidential election held in May 2019. The countrys High Court ordered the rerun after annulling the 2019 vote in early 2020, citing a raft of serious irregularities. Mutharika, who won the 2019 election, called the decision a “travesty of justice” and sought its reversal, but the Supreme Court rejected his appeal and upheld the High Courts ruling. Opposition parties in other African countries, analysts, and U.S. officials have welcomed the electoral and judicial oversight processes that produced this outcome. Such processes, which have rarely produced analogous results in sub-Saharan Africa, may provide insights and precedents for other countries in the regionas well as inform ongoing U.S. efforts to support democratic strengthening and the rule of law in Africa. In particular, they may suggest a need to prioritize support for impartial electoral dispute mediation and independent j