Blantyre - The counting of votes in Malawi's national elections continued Thursday despite objections from opposition leader John Tembo, who is trailing behind President Bingu wa Mutharika and has threatened not to recognize the result.

Malawians voted on Tuesday for a president and 193-member parliament. Malawi Broadcasting Corporation reported Thursday that Mutharika's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had won 75 seats out of 153 counted. Those were unofficial results that had yet to be confirmed by the electoral commission.

Mutharika also has a comfortable lead in the presidential vote.

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) leader Tembo on Wednesday alleged his party agents were barred from watching the count in some parts of Central Region, a party stronghold, and called for a halt to counting.

The ruling party has picked up a number of seats in the central area.

The MCP also accused the electoral commission of failing to ensure that ballot boxes were properly sealed. The commission said it was investigating the complaints.

Tembo has threatened not to accept the outcome if Mutharika won but the party appeared to be rowing back on the threat Thursday.

"Who said we would reject results? Ask Tembo if we really are going to reject the results," MCP publicity secretary Ishmael Chafukira told the German Press Agency dpa.

European Union team and Commonwealth observer teams had yet to release their reports on the election.

Seven candidates ran for president but two have already conceded defeat, according to the BBC. About 1,100 people ran for parliament.

The presidential election was a two-horse race between Mutharika and Tembo.

Mutharika, 75, an economist by training, is credited with improving food security in the famine-prone country of 13 million through the introduction of a fertilizer subsidy and boosting growth.

Tembo, 77, is a veteran member of the MCP, the party of autocratic, first president Hastings Kamuzu Banda, who ruled for 30 years after independence from Britain until being defeated in 1994 by Bakili Muluzi's United Democratic Front (UDF).

Muluzi served two terms as leader between 1994 and 2004 and then named Mutharika to succeed him, but the two later fell out and the president formed his own party.

Muluzi attempted to throw his hat in the ring again this year but a court barred him from running. He has since rallied behind Tembo.

Tembo's threats not to recognize the outcome if Mutharika wins raises the spectre of a repeat of the violence that erupted after the last elections in 2004, which were marred by irregularities.

Opposition supporters rioted for two days after Mutharika was declared the victor.(dpa)