Malawi presidential elections: Who is running and what’s at stake? | Agriculture News

Malawians are voting to elect their subsequent president amid a deepening financial disaster in one in every of Africa’s poorest and most climate-vulnerable nations.

The small Southeast African nation has been hit with double-digit inflation that has precipitated meals costs to skyrocket for a number of months now. It got here after intense drought occasions final 12 months. Earlier, in 2023, Cyclone Freddy, which struck the area, hit Malawi the toughest, killing greater than 1,000 folks and devastating livelihoods.

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In Tuesday’s election, voters are additionally selecting parliamentarians and native councillors throughout 35 native governments.

Malawi is most recognized for its vacationer hotspots, akin to Lake Malawi, Africa’s third-largest freshwater lake, in addition to nature and wildlife parks.

The nation has a inhabitants of 21.6 million. Lilongwe is the capital metropolis, and Blantyre is the industrial nerve centre.

Right here’s what to know in regards to the elections:

How does voting occur?

The elections started within the morning on Tuesday and can finish by night.

Some 7.2 million persons are registered to vote throughout 35 native authorities authorities, in accordance with the electoral fee.

To emerge as president, a candidate should achieve greater than 50 % of the vote. If not, then a run-off should be held. Presidential outcomes might be revealed by September 24.

A complete of 299 constituency parliament members and 509 councillors might be elected. Parliamentary outcomes might be revealed by September 30.

Who’re the important thing contenders?

Seventeen presidential candidates are working for the put up. Nevertheless, the race is basically thought of a two-horse race between incumbent President Lazarus Chakwera and former chief Peter Mutharika.

Lazarus Chakwera: The 70-year-old president and chief of the ruling Malawi Congress Get together (MCP) is hoping to safe his second and — per the structure —  ultimate time period.

The previous preacher’s win in 2020 was historic, after a courtroom dominated that there have been irregularities within the 2019 election, and ordered a re-run. Chakwera’s win in that second vote marked the primary time in African historical past that an opposition candidate received a re-run election.

Nevertheless, Chakwera’s tenure has been marked by excessive ranges of inflation and, extra just lately, gasoline shortages. There have additionally been quite a few allegations of corruption, significantly nepotism, towards him. In 2021, the president made headlines when he appointed his daughter, Violet Chakwera Mwasinga, as a diplomat to Brussels.

In his campaigns, Chakwera has requested for extra time to work on easing the nation’s present financial stagnation. He and officers in his authorities have additionally blamed a few of the hardships on final 12 months’s drought, a cholera outbreak between 2022 and 2024, and the devastation of Cyclone Freddy in February 2023.

Supporters level out that Chakwera has already overseen main street development work throughout Malawi and restarted prepare providers after greater than 30 years.

He beforehand ran in 2014, however was unsuccessful.

Peter Mutharika: The 85-year-old chief of the opposition Democratic Progressive Get together (DPP) is trying to make a comeback after his earlier second-term bid was defeated by Chakwera in 2020.

A former legislation professor, Mutharika has campaigned on the financial features he stated Malawi witnessed underneath him, arguing that issues had been higher throughout his tenure than underneath the current management. He led Malawi from 2014 to 2020.

Whereas he’s credited with reducing inflation and kickstarting main infrastructure tasks, Mutharika additionally confronted corruption scandals in his time. In 2018, Malawians took to the streets to protest his alleged involvement in a bribery scandal that had seen a businessman pay a 200,000 kickback to his get together. Mutharika was later cleared of wrongdoing.

Critics have speculated about Mutharika’s age, noting that he has not been significantly lively in the course of the marketing campaign. Mutharika is the brother of former President Bingu wa Mutharika, who died in workplace in 2012.

Different notable presidential contenders embody:

• Joyce Banda – Malawi’s solely feminine president from 2012 to 2014, from the Individuals’s Get together. She was previously vice chairman underneath Bingu wa Mutharika.
• Michael Usi – the previous vice chairman who’s from the Odya Zake Alibe Mlandu get together.

What’s at stake on this election?

Struggling financial system

Though Malawi exports tobacco, tea, and different agricultural merchandise, the nation is basically aid-dependent. Additionally it is underneath strain from gathered exterior debt.

For Malawian voters, rising costs of meals and on a regular basis objects are essentially the most urgent problem on the poll. Meals prices have gone up by about 30 % up to now 12 months, however salaries have largely stayed the identical. In the meantime, the prices of fertiliser for the 80 % of Malawians who survive on subsistence farming have risen.

Economists chalk up the stagnation disaster to a scarcity of international forex, which has restricted essential imports, together with fertilisers and gasoline.

Presently, the nation is going through extreme gasoline shortages, with a whole bunch queuing up at gasoline stations every day. Chakwera has blamed corrupt officers, who he says are intentionally sabotaging the gasoline markets, for the issue.

In Could, the Worldwide Financial Fund (IMF) terminated a $175 million mortgage programme after it failed to present early outcomes. Solely $35 million had been disbursed. There’ll possible be negotiations for a brand new IMF programme after the elections, officers have stated.

Earlier, in February, disgruntled residents took to the streets Lilongwe and Blantyre in protest towards the rising value of dwelling. Some voters, significantly the younger folks, really feel that not a lot will change whether or not they vote or not.

Whereas Mutharika has campaigned on his financial file whereas in workplace, Chakwera has pledged a money switch programme of 500,000 Malawi kwacha ($290) for newborns, which they’ll entry on the age of 18.

Corruption

Corruption crises have riddled each Mutharika and Chakwera’s governments, one thing many Malawians say they’re uninterested in.

Whereas Chakwera has talked powerful on preventing graft since turning into head of state in 2020, he has confronted criticism for nepotism scandals and for dealing with corruption instances selectively.

In the meantime, candidate Joyce Banda has additionally promised to struggle corruption if elected. As president, Banda fired her complete cupboard in 2013, following information that some authorities officers had been caught with massive quantities of money of their properties.

Drought and excessive climate

Malawi is among the most climate-vulnerable nations, though it doesn’t contribute considerably to emissions. With the vast majority of folks counting on subsistence farming for meals, excessive climate occasions usually hit Malawi particularly arduous.

Local weather activist Chikondi Chabvuta advised Al Jazeera that governments up to now haven’t invested sufficient in constructing programs, akin to meals programs, that may take up local weather shocks. Ladies and women, particularly she stated, are sometimes most affected by the double whammy of climate disasters and inflation that usually follows.

“Making a buffer for the folks impacted must be a precedence as a result of science is telling us these occasions are going to worsen,” Chabvuta stated. “Life for Malawians has to get higher by insurance policies that present seriousness,” in tackling environmental challenges, she added.

Thousands and thousands of individuals had been impacted for a number of months in 2024, after a extreme regional drought destroyed harvests, pushed by El Nino climate patterns.

In response to the World Meals Program, a whole bunch of hundreds throughout the nation had been compelled to depend on meals help for survival as Malawi declared an emergency.

In February 2023, Cyclone Freddy, which was one of many deadliest storms to hit Africa within the final twenty years, precipitated 1,216 fatalities. It additionally worn out crops and precipitated related meals shortages.