Lazarus Chakwera

His Excellency Lazarus Chakwera
Chakwera in 2023
6th President of Malawi
Incumbent
Assumed office 28 June 2020
Vice President	Saulos Chilima
Preceded by	Peter Mutharika
Minister of Defense
Incumbent
Assumed office 28 June 2020
President	Himself
Leader of the Opposition
In office May 2014 – February 2019
Preceded by	John Tembo
Succeeded by	Lobin Lowe
Member of Parliament for Lilongwe North West
In office May 2014 – May 2019
Personal details
Born	Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera (1955-04-05) 5 April 1955 (age 69) Lilongwe, Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (now Malawi)
Political party	Malawi Congress Party
Spouse	Monica Chakwera ​ (m. 1977)​
Children	4
Alma mater	University of Malawi University of the North University of South Africa Trinity International University

Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera (born 5 April 1955) is a Malawian politician and theologian who has served as President of Malawi and minister of defence since June 2020.^[1] He also serves as minister of defence per Malawian constitution,^{[citation needed]} he has served as the leader of the Malawi Congress Party since 2013.^[2] He was President of the Malawi Assemblies of God from 1989 to 2013.

Previously, Chakwera was the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly following highly controversial elections held on 21 May 2019 which were overturned by the Constitutional Court.^[3] He was appointed chairman of SADC on 17 August^[4] at the SADC 41st Annual Summit held on 9 August to 19 August 2021 in Lilongwe, Malawi.