Malawi's President Peter Mutharika on Tuesday urged opposition parties, to accept the outcome of an election clouded by fraud allegations, as he was sworn in for a second term.

Thousands of supporters gathered at a sports stadium in Malawi's commercial capital Blantyre, to watch him take the oath of office which had been announced just hours earlier.

The seventy-eight years old Mutharika of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was declared a winner on Monday, after an injunction barring the release of the results was lifted.

In a short speech Mutharika congratulated other leaders who competed with him in the elections, and encouraged them to accept that there can only be one leader.

Mutharika won the ballot with 38.57% of the vote, against former evangelist Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) with 35.41%.