Malawi votes for the next president as bites of the cost of living

Malawi votes in the presidential and parliamentary elections, after five turbulent years, which witnessed that the economic crisis is exacerbated in the southern African country.

President Lazaros Chakuerra is competing for a second term, and his main rival is Peter Motatika, who was previously in office.

In cities, they overwhelmed the campaigns due to lack of fuel, which led to long and frustrated lines at gasoline stations. The increasing cost of living was a great concern for the voters.

The presidential flow will be held if no candidate gets more than 50 % of the votes held in Tuesday’s elections.

What do Malawi vote?

Voters will participate 7.2 million registered in three elections, as soon as the polling stations are opened at 04:00 GMT:

Presidency – There are 17 candidates to choose from
parliamentary – 229 deputies will be elected
local – 509 positions of consultants are up to seize.

Who could be the next president?

Lazarus ChakWera (L) faced and Peter Mutharika (r) faced each other in voting before [AFP via Getty Images]

Of the 17 hope, there are two clear facade centers.

ChakWera and Mutharika will back down against each other in the fourth time polls – although the third time has ended not to count.

Mutharika was first defeated ChakWera in 2014, but when he was announced his winner on Chakwera in the upcoming elections in 2019, the result was canceled. Chakwera won the restart the following year.

Lazaros, Malawi Conference Party (MCP)

ChakWera, a previous lecturer and preacher, had no political experience when he appeared as a MCP leader in 2013.

When he was nominated for the presidency in 2014, he did not succeed, but in 2020 he won, Putting on job occupant, Muttabika, in this unprecedented restart.

A young man at the time of Chakuerra in his position of economic turmoil and allegations of corruption. However, the 70 -year -old re -provided train services in Malawi for the first time in more than three decades. He also supervised the construction of the main roads throughout the country.

Peter Motatika – Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)

Mutharika, a former 85 -year -old lawyer and legal lecture, led Malawi from 2014 to 2020.

He is the brother of the late President Pingo and Mottatika, who died in his position in 2012.

Like Chakwera, Mutharika is also burdened with corruption allegations and economic crises ties. However, his supporters argue that the current high inflation rate (about 27 %) is evidence that an effect is better managed by the economy than behind it.

Omar Mutharika may be counted against him – speculation about his health, especially since he was rarely seen in public places during the campaign period.

Other competitors who get attention are the former president Joyce Panda (People’s Party), the current vice president Michael Oussi (Foards is not guilty) and the former ruler of the Reserve Bank blessing (UTM).

What are the main issues of voters?

A head shot of a man wearing a fabric and beaten — The polls are scheduled to close at 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT) [BBC]

Economy

Malawi has always been one of the poorest countries in the world, however The past few years have been a special punishment.

It was the country Destroyed with Hurricane Fredi This killed hundreds of people in 2023, then swept dehydration throughout South Africa the following year. Food prices have risen due to a lack of width of crops, prompting many millions to severe poverty.

Economists also put the current inflation problems in Malawi partially to the lack of foreign currencies – known as “Forex” – in banks.

In addition, Malawi was She was forced to reduce the value of her currency It was recently paralyzed due to lack of fuel and power outages in the country.

corruption

When Chakuerra reached power, he pledged to “cleanse the ruins of corruption”, which has a long -term policy of Malawi. His administration says it excelled in this field, but critics – including the influential Catholic Church – say this is not the case.

Doubts sparked last year when the Director of the Public Prosecution dropped corruption against prominent personalities.

In addition, the Anti -Corruption Office (ACB) has been without a manager since she left the former director Martha Chesuma more than a year ago.

For some, the failure to appoint a new president hinders the battle against corruption.

Previous departments have also been strengthened by illegal gain allegations. For example, ACB He was accused of Mawtharika of receiving a contract from a contract To provide food for the police – he denied committing any violations.

Panda’s reputation was heard by a scandal called “Cashgate” that occurred under her watch. It was disinfected by ACB of any violations.

The death of the former vice president

In June last year, Vice President Saulos Chilima died in a plane crash. Common among young people, Celima led UTM and could be a major competitor in the upcoming elections, especially since he had fallen with the president.

Although two investigations – one of them is carried out by the Air Accident Agency in Germany and the other by the Malawi Committee specific to the government – did not find evidence that humans are in playing, some millions are still skeptical in the authorities.

The opposition parties feed this doubt during their campaigns, referring to the Chakwera party as the “Chikangawa” (Chikangawa Forest is a plane crash site).

A child wears a blue rain coat looking at a collapsed path. A tree fell next to the child and people with umbrellas roaming the distance. — Hundreds of Malawi lost their lives because of a Freddy hurricane [AFP via Getty Images]

What happened in the previous elections?

Malawi was ruled by MCP from its independence in 1964 to the first multi -party survey in the country in 1994.

Since the shift from one party, the United Democratic Front, DPP, the People’s Party, and MCP have enjoyed all of the power tasks.

Chakwera’s victory with MCP in 2020 was one of the most important moments in the country’s political history.

General elections were held in the previous year and announced the winner of the winner.

but, The Constitutional Court canceled the electionsSaying that there was a widespread tampering, including the use of Tipp-EX correction on the results leaves.

Judges ordered the restart of the year 2020, and Chakwera won 59 % of the votes after cooperating with Chilima.

Although Mutharika was described as “unacceptable”, the Constitutional Court gained an international praise to protect democracy and refused to be affected by the presidential authority.

How will the presidential vote work on Tuesday?

In the wake of the 2019 election controversy, Malawi implemented a new system, as the candidate must obtain more than 50 % of the total votes to win the presidency in the first round.

There is a strong possibility that this year’s candidates will not reach the threshold, which means that the surface flow elections must be held.

MCP and DPP may try to bring smaller parties to secure the majority in the second round.

The electoral committee increased until the end of September 24 to announce the presidential result in a poll on Tuesday and the end of September 30 for the parliamentary elections.

The counting stations are scheduled to start as soon as the voting ends at 14:00 GMT.

Will the elections be free and fair?

After the 2019 vote, the court gave some Malawi belief in the electoral process.

However, over the past months, a number of civil society organizations and opposition parties have accused the electoral committee for MCP, claiming that its higher administration is related to the ruling party. The committee denied firmly bias.

In June, a protest was subjected to the resignation of senior committee officials by masked men, carrying enrollment, which led to concerns about freedom of expression in the period before the elections.

The attack was not an isolated accident – there were many reports of violence with political motives before the general elections.