Peter Mutharika

Arthur Peter Mutharika ( moot-ə-REE-kə; born 18 July 1940) is a Malawian politician and lawyer who has been the seventh president of Malawi since 2025. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the younger brother of the third president, Bingu wa Mutharika, he served as the fifth president from 2014 to 2020 and has also been leading the DPP since 2012. Born in Thyolo District, Mutharika graduated from the University of London in 1965 with a bachelor's degree in law, and the Yale University with a master's degree in law in 1966 and a doctorate in Juridical Science in 1968. In 1971, he was admitted to the bar in Tanzania and became a professional lawyer. As professor, Mutharika taught several universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Uganda. He has also worked in the field of international justice, specialising in international economic law, international law and comparative constitutional law. In 2009, Mutharika joined politics during the presidency of his elder brother and was elected to the National Assembly for the Thyolo East District. Mutharika was later appointed as an Advisor to The President on Foreign and Domestic Policy and Minister of Justice by Bingu and served in these positions until the following year when he was appointed Minister of Education, Science and Technology and served in the role until the following year when Mutharika was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. In 2012, Bingu died and Mutharika attempted to succeed his brother instead of vice president Joyce Banda, which Bingu strongly supported. Despite this however, Banda became president as stated by the Constitution with the support of the military. Two years later, Mutharika was elected president in the 2014 presidential election, defeating Banda and the opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP)'s Lazarus Chakwera. During Mutharika's first, Malawi experienced steady economic growth with inflation falling from 24% in 2014 to single digits by 2019, and many infrastructure projects advanced further during this time as well. Despite this however, many economic challenges such as food security, power outages, and high unemployment and cost of living remained. Mutharika's first term however was mainly overshadowed by corruption scandals, with Mutharika himself being accused of corruption. Mutharika's government also faced accusations of nepotism and authoritarian behaviour, which all came to a boiling point in 2018 when protests took streets in the country against the government. Despite this however, Mutharika won the 2019 presidential election, which was disputed by the opposition. In February 2020, the Supreme Court of Appeal annulled the election citing irregularities and in the rerun election in June of the following year, Mutharika lost to Chakwera. In August 2020, two months after leaving the presidency, Mutharika's bank account was suspended by the Malawi Anti-Corruption Commission. In January 2021, the High Court dismissed Mutharika's request to lift the suspension of his bank account. In July 2022, Mutharika said that his party was ready to win the 2025 general elections and was still considering whether to run again. Mutharika eventually announced his candidacy in August 2024 and defeated Chakwera in the 2025 presidential election in September. Mutharika is the oldest Malawian president ever, and could have been the first president to turn 80 while in office had he remained in office past his 80th birthday on 18 July 2020. Having assumed office at the age of nearly 74, Mutharika became the oldest ever president to assume office in Malawian history, surpassing Hastings Banda, the first Malawian president who assumed office at the age of 68 in 1966. When Mutharika was sworn in for a second term in 2025, he broke his own record in 2014 and once again became the oldest Malawian president to take office, having taken office at the age of 85. Mutharika is also currently the eighth oldest serving state leader in the world.