Post impersonating Malawi presidential candidate Michael Usi falsely claims he conceded

“As the Malawi Electoral Commission continues the tallying process, it has become clear from the results announced so far that Dr. Lazarus Chakwera is likely to emerge victorious in this election,” reads an X post published on September 17, 2025 — a day after Malawians went to the polls.

Published by an account called “DrMichiealUsi”, the post is headlined “PRESS RELEASE” and claims to be a statement from Usi in his capacity as “Vice President of the Republic of Malawi and Presidential Candidate in the 2025 General Election”.

The account contains a blue checkmark, which means the user has an active subscription to X Premium, which is available to the general public.

“In the spirit of our democratic values, I accept this outcome,” the post continues. “I extend my sincere congratulations to Dr. Chakwera and his team for the trust and confidence that Malawians have placed in them.”

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Screenshot of the X post, taken on September 17, 2025

Replies to the post, mainly in Nyanga, were mixed, but most did not appear to engage with it seriously.

Before the election on September 16, 2025, Usi served as deputy to Chakwera, who is bidding for another term as president (archived here). 

Usi formed the Odya Zake Alibe Mlandu party – officially registered on May 30, 2025 – as a breakaway faction of the United Transformation Movement (UTM), which is currently in coalition with Chakwera’s Malawi Congress Party (archived here).

The same claim also reached Facebook and Instagram, and was referred to in news articles.

However, the post is false.

Impersonation

A few clues hinted at the X account’s disingenuity: it was only created in July 2025 and Usi’s first name in the bio is spelt “Michieal” instead of “Michael”. 

The account also described the purported concession statement as “fake” in a subsequent post.

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Screenshot of the X post, taken on September 18, 2025

Contacted by AFP journalists in Malawi, Usi’s assistant Winnie Nyando said the account was “fake” and sent a screenshot of Usi’s official Facebook page (archived here).

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Screenshot of Usi’s Facebook account, supplied on September 17, 2025

The Facebook account has been active since July 2024, after Usi was appointed vice president when his predecessor died in a plane crash (archived here).

The account last published a post on August 13, 2025.

Nyando also confirmed Usi's official account on X as @MalawiVP and said that all accounts will be handed over to the next vice president's communications team (archived here)

Usi’s spokesman Mike Kambalame also told AFP that the statement conceding defeat is a hoax. 

“The election results have not been tallied, so there’s no point for the Vice President to concede,” Kambalame said, adding that Usi “has said it consistently, that the page does not belong to him and it is just propaganda”.

Malawi elections 2025

Malawi voted on September 16, 2025, in a general election marked by soaring costs and fuel shortages, with Chakwera facing his predecessor and main rival, Peter Mutharika (archived here).

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Malawians voting in the general election on September 16, 2025 (AFP / AMOS GUMULIRA)

The country is counting votes and observers said preliminary results indicated a strong showing for Mutharika; however, Chakwera's party voiced confidence in a victory (archived here).