by Edward Chitsulo
THE Malawi 2004 presidential and general election has brought a lot of surprises, the main one being the election of newcomer Bingu wa Mutharika as president, a considerable increase in women representation and the beginning of the disappearance of voting along ethnic lines.
From being virtually unknown till the mid 90s, Bingu wa Mutharika’s political history is short and has not been given serious mention in local circles.
This did not gain currency because it seemed President Bakili Muluzi was paving the way for the man to take over as president after the 2004 elections – a situation ruled out as a possibility, given the many established politicians and economists in the country.
By mid last year, Dr Muluzi drafted Mutharika into the central executive committee of his ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) as the presidential elections contender, which did not go down very well with many party stalwarts.
Against this background, wa Mutharika’s win over contenders, John Tembo of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), Gwanda Chakuamba of the Mgwirizano Coalition of seven parties, Brown Mpinganjira of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and former Vice President Justin Malewezi who ran as independent – was thus a surprise.
Mutharika got 1,119,738 votes; Tembo 846,457; Chakuamba, widely expected to win after the seven party coalition and support from the church, got 802,386; Mpinganjira 272,172 votes while Malewezi gleaned 78,892 votes.
The Mgwirizano Coalition is contesting the election results in the High Court of Malawi citing the Malawi Electoral Commission, Bingu wa Mutharika and the UDF as respondents.
While the “losers” and “winners” are sorting out the issue of numbers, there are some positive trends on the electoral landscape including the increased number of women who are now in parliament.
In the last National Assembly, there were 17 female parliamentarians, representing 8.8 percent of the 193 chamber Parliament. Now there are 28 female MPs, representing 14 percent.
In real terms, however, the figure of 28 (an additional 11 women) is more than a 60 percent increase on the existing 17 women. This outcome follows strong women representation and lobbying as a result of the 1997 Southern African Development Community (SADC) Declaration on Gender and Development, adopted by member states. The Declaration calls for at least 30 percent representation of women in politics and decision-making.
According to Ema Kaliya, Chairperson of the Gender Coordination Network in Malawi, the increase by 11 women does not translate into the 25 percent representation they had been aiming for.
“Although this is the case, I would like to congratulate those who have made it, more particularly the independent Members of Parliament. It was tough as they were being oppressed left, right and centre but they were strong enough to fight on,” said Kaliya.
She noted that the women did not fare well due to lack of resources. She also said most civil society organizations that promote women were late in assisting the female candidates due to lack of resources as well.
Latest figures on the Malawi National Assembly reveal the following overall composition: MCP, 60 seats followed by the UDF, which has 49 seats (against 91 of 1999). Independent candidates, a good number of whom are women, have collected 38 seats. Chakuamba’s six-months old Republican Party (RP) has 16 seats, while the Alliance for Democracy (Aford), the UDF partner, has managed only 6 seats against the 30 it had in the last election. Small parties, including the perceived big party NDA, have shared the rest of the seats, in the 193-seat house.
The overall voting pattern that has emerged — also as a surprise — is that Aford, whose stronghold is the Northern Region of Malawi, has lost control of that base by getting only six seats. The rest have gone to the newly born Mgwirizano Coalition, which has the RP as the main partner, the Movement for Genuine Democracy (MGODE) – a splinter party from Aford and five more other small parties.
The MCP, the of former President Hastings Kamuzu Banda, now led by John Tembo, has consolidated its Central Region stronghold. The Southern Region, from where wa Mutharika has drawn his strength, is a shared resource for Mgwirizano Coalition, the NDA, the MCP and the other small parties.
It is in the South, especially the populous Zomba, Chiradzulo, Machinga and Mangochi districts where the opposition is disputing the figures, which gave Mutharika a wide margin. However, it is also in the South where voting has gone on personality or party lines, not necessarily ethnic issues.
The same could be said of the Northern Region where media trainer Levi Zeleza Manda says, “The poor performance by Chakufwa Chihana’s Aford in the North is not necessarily a win for Chakuamba’s coalition, but rather a protest vote against Chihana, who has ‘sold’ the original Aford to the UDF, or caused divisions in the North.” (SARDC)
