Malawi set for elections
2009-05-14 10:03
Lilongwe - Inhabitants of Malawi go to the polls next week to elect a president and parliament in elections shaped by an ex-leader's controversial bid for a third stint in power.
Some 6.5 million Malawians, a little over half the population of the former British colony, are called on to vote for president and a 193-member parliament on May 19 in a tight race between incumbent President Bingu wa Mutharika and opposition leader John Tembo.
Tembo is backed by corruption-accused, popular ex-president Bakili Muluzi, who has also thrown his hat in the ring but is awaiting a court ruling on Friday on whether he can run again after being barred by the electoral commission.
The last elections in 2004 were marred by what European Union and Commonwealth observers called "serious inadequacies" that sparked riots by opposition supporters.
Analysts fear that if no one party obtains a clear mandate, the vote may again be contested.
As always, food security is a key election issue in this impoverished country of around 13 million mostly subsistence farmers, which is prone to hunger caused by recurrent drought in some parts of the vast country and flooding in others.
Former anti-corruption drive
The technocratic Mutharika, who came to power in 2004 after Muluzi served out two consecutive terms, is credited with boosting economic growth to 9% last year and improving food security through the introduction of a fertilizer subsidy.
For the past three years Malawi, which relies mainly on tobacco exports and donor aid for income, has produced maize surpluses.
But Mutharika faces an uphill battle to retain power against opposition leader John Tembo, a former finance minister, who is backed by Muluzi, Mutharika's charismatic rival.
Mutharika and Muluzi are at daggers drawn over the former's anti-corruption drive. Muluzi named Mutharika as his successor in 2004 but a year later Mutharika broke away from Muluzi's United Democratic Front (UDF) and founded his own party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that set about tackling graft.
Muluzi has been charged with 87 counts of corruption, relating to his alleged misappropriation of millions of dollars of donor funding.
His supporters claim the charges are an attempt to bar him from seeking re-election, even though it is not clear whether he is eligible for a third term.
The alliance between Muluzi's UDF and Tembo's Malawi Congress Party (MCP) is noteworthy because the MCP is the party of autocratic ex-leader Hastings Kamuzu Banda, who ruled the country for 30 years before being defeated by Muluzi in the first multi-party elections in 1994.
Tensions running high
Even if the Supreme Court of Appeal on Friday overturns the election commission's ban on Muluzi's candidacy, analysts say Muluzi may continue to back Tembo at this late stage.
Tensions are running high between supporters of government and the opposition. Muluzi's motorcade was stoned this week when he attempted to campaign in Mutharika's home town of Thyolo in southern Malawi.
The ruling party's well-resourced campaign, which includes the use of giant screens at rallies, has been shrouded in speculation of funding from China, which has ploughed aid into the country since Malawi last year swapped its ties with Taiwan for China.
But the country's Human Rights Consultative Committee says the elections so far have been more peaceful than previous polls.
Allegations of vote-rigging in the UDF's favour in 2004 resulted in two days of rioting by opposition supporters that ended with some opposition leaders being given cabinet posts. At least one person was killed in the violence.
The European Union has dispatched close to 80 observers to the elections. The African Union and the Southern African Development Community are participating.