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 was wrongfully accused of attempting to succeed his brother instead of vice president Joyce Banda. 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. Mutharika also established community colleges. 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 that did not affect the vote and in the rerun election in June of the following year, Mutharika lost to Chakwera, after nine political parties banded together to form the Tonse Alliance and backed Chakwera.