Blantyre, Malawi - The counting of votes in Malawi's presidential and parliamentary elections was under way Wednesday, with partial results showing incumbent President Bingu wa Mutharika and his party taking an early lead.

Over 12 hours after polls closed in the country's fourth multi- party national elections since independence from Britain in 1964, only around 7 per cent of voting districts had finished counting, Malawi Electoral Commission spokesman Fegus Lipenga said.

Mutharika had over two thirds of the votes counted in the presidential component of the vote and his Democratic Progressive Party was also leading in the parliamentary vote. Opposition leader John Tembo was trailing in second place.

The sample of votes was too small to predict a winner. By afternoon, a clearer picture was expected to emerge.

Malawians are hoping the peaceful atmosphere in which Tuesday's election was held will prevail when the final result is announced. Widespread rioting erupted after Mutharika was announced president in 2004, following elections that were marred by irregularities.

Mathias Eick, spokesman for the European Union observer mission, said the EU would deliver its verdict on the election on Thursday but that there were only "minor reports" of delays in voting and other "minor problems" on Tuesday.

Former Ghanaian president John Kufuor, who is heading the Commonwealth observer team, said the voting had been peaceful and orderly.

Some 6.5 million Malawians, a little over half the population of the impoverished southern African nation, were eligible to elect a president and 193-member legislature.

Voter turnout appeared to have been strong.

Seven candidates ran for president, with Mutharika, 75, facing a strong challenge from Tembo, 77. Tembo is backed by former president Bakili Muluzi, who was barred from seeking a third term.

Mutharika has said he will retire from politics if defeated.

He is credited with boosting growth to around 9 per cent last year and improving food security through a fertilizer subsidy.

Tembo, leader of the Malawi Congress Party, is a veteran politician, who served as central bank governor and finance minister under Malawi's first president Hastings Kamuzu Banda.

These are the third general elections since Muluzi's United Democratic Front ended 30 years of one-party autocratic rule by Banda, in 1994.