Malawi's presidential election proceeds with its counting amid riots in the capital, and the state radio has revealed the unofficial results of 23 districts showing that candidate of the ruling party is still leading the race.

According to unofficial results announced by the state-run Malawi Broadcasting Corporation, results from 23 out of a total of28 districts showed that Bingu wa Mutharika, candidate of Malawi'sruling party United Democratic Front (UDF), scooped 765,141 votes, followed by Gwanda Chakuamba, candidate of the seven-party opposition Mgwirizano Coalition, with 533,985 votes.

John Tembo, candidate of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), came the third with 436,463 votes.

Brown Mpinganjira, candidate of the National Democracy Alliance(NDA), ranked the fourth among five contesters, with 216,007 votes.

Justin Malewezi, independent candidate and former vice-president of Malawi, got a total of 47,447 votes.

Counting of votes began immediately after polling closed at 6 p.m. Thursday, but the official results have been very slow, causing concern and confusion among the public.

Earlier in the day, rioters have blocked a major road in the Malawi commercial capital Blantyre, as the country waits impatiently for the presidential and parliamentary elections held Thursday, and the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has said final official results will most probably be delayed until Sunday, one day behind the official schedule.

MEC said the results are being processed at the districts level extremely slowly, and that some results have to be sent back to districts for correction of errors.

Some 5.7 million eligible voters went to the polls on Thursday to choose a new president succeeding outgoing President Bakili Muluzi who would step down according to the country's constitution.

Five candidates are contesting the top job of the southern African country with a population of about 11 million.

Latest statistics also show that MCP is leading in the parliamentary elections, winning in 56 constituencies.

The ruling UDF got 32 parliamentary seats. Mgwirizano coalition18, NDA 4, independents 33.

Available figures also show that less than half of the 6.7 million registered voters eventually turned up at polling stations.

The elections were originally scheduled for May 18, but postponed to May 20 by the Malawi Electoral Commission after opposition parties strongly accused the inaccurate statistics on register numbers in voting rolls.

Source: Xinhua