Malawi deployed the army today to contain violence that saw polling stations burnt and marred polls seen as the first true test of President Joyce Banda's scandal-tainted rule.
As polling stations opened as much as 10 hours late, anger and speculation about the fairness of the vote spilled over into violence -- mirroring the country's volatile politics.
On the outskirts of the commercial capital Blantyre, an AFP reporter saw the smouldering remains of a polling station that had been torched by voters protesting late delivery of balloting material.
A tent used as a polling station was burnt in another Blantyre township, according the electoral commission chief Maxon Mbendera.
In the city centre angry youths staged an impromptu mini-protest carrying branches and chanting anti-government slogans.
"Maybe they are trying to rig the election," said Paul Wind, 38. "If they think they will frustrate us from voting, they are wrong," he added.
Another voter Fanuel Kapenga says "this causes doubt, especially if the ruling party wins."
The stakes are high in this, the first election since hard-line president Bingu wa Mutharika died in office two years ago, with his rival heirs reprising their battle for power.
In the days after his death, Mutharika's body was secretly flown around Africa as his brother Peter allegedly tried to prevent Joyce Banda -- then vice-president -- from being sworn in.
Banda began her term as a darling of the West, feted as one of Africa's rare women leaders, but her government has since been ensnared in a USD 30 million corruption scandal that has seen foreign donors freeze vital aid.
For 74-year-old Peter Mutharika winning would mean an end to his trial for treason.
Analysts predict Banda will win albeit with a slender majority.
"I think the president still has a fighting chance of winning," said Boniface Gulani a political scientist at the University of Malawi.
But with the victor expected to take 40 percent or less of the votes cast in a do-or-die political battle, the potential for further violence is high.
"Tensions are running very high, especially in Blantyre, and if Joyce Banda wins the vote then I expect there will be more trouble than we've already seen today," said Clive Gabay of the Queen Mary University of London.
