Daniel Itai – The Zimbabwe Daily
Lilongwe, Malawi – Millions of Malawians will today cast their Presidential votes following the nullification of the May 2019 Presidential elections earlier this year by the Constitutional Court over electoral irregularities.
Last year, incumbent President Peter Mutharika representing the Democratic Progressive Party garnered 38.57 percent of the votes followed by Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawian Congress Party (MCP) at 35.41 percent.
However, following the Constitutional ruling, for one to be elected President the candidate should secure at least 51 percent of the votes something which some political analysts have described as a mammoth task considering last year’s results.
“The elections will not be perfect given the haphazard nature of their preparation ranging from no proper guidelines, rushed reconstitution of the Malawi Electoral Commission, to delays in funding.
I can only hope that the results of the elections will be clear enough as not to open another pandora’s box of contestations,” said Michael Jana, a political analyst.
Malawi is the second African country in the last decade after Kenya that has had to go for a Presidential rerun due to electoral irregularities.
