Renowned lawyer Khumbo Soko has issued a blunt call to President Lazarus Chakwera, urging him to concede defeat in the just-ended election, saying anything short of that risks plunging the country into needless tension.

In a strongly-worded Facebook post, Soko said all candidates, including the President, already have the results from polling stations and know the people's verdict. He argued that there is no credible reason for Chakwera to delay conceding if, indeed, the numbers point to his loss.

"Look, he has the results. All candidates do. In fact, they had the results by midnight on voting day. He knows the verdict that Malawians have delivered," Soko wrote.

The lawyer reminded Malawians of 1994 when the late Hastings Kamuzu Banda conceded gracefully after losing, setting a democratic precedent that subsequent leaders failed to uphold. He pointed out that both Bingu wa Mutharika in 2014 and Peter Mutharika in 2020 refused to accept defeat, a posture he described as "a bad example not worthy of emulation."

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Soko stressed that by conceding now, President Chakwera would cool political tempers, guide his supporters towards acceptance, and secure his own legacy as a statesman. "The loss of an election need not be the end. It can herald the beginning of a new era for an elder statesman. It's political leadership that we are talking about here," he argued.

While acknowledging that the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) must complete its legal verification process, Soko insisted that leadership demands courage and vision. "MEC has its own processes to follow. But the President has a legacy to secure. His supporters will take cue from him. And begin to move on," he said.

Soko's intervention piles pressure on the President as counting continues, amid rising calls from some quarters for him to concede.