Chakwera leads in Malawi opinion polls: MCP says not taking anything for granted
With a month left until a fresh presidential elections, opinion polls by Afrobaromete suggest that Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and UTM Party alliance presidential candidate Lazarus Chakwera would win the ballot, but MCP has said it will not be complacent.
One of the most respected opinion makers – Afrobaromete – says in a report that Chakwera, who heads opposition MCP-UTM alliance with other partners People’s Party (PP), Umodzi Party, Petra, Freedom Party, PPM, Alliance for Democracy (Aford) and Mafunde, is likely to be elected the next Malawi leader.
Despite the polls in its favour, MCP publicity secretary the Reverend Maurice Munthali said that the opposition alliance are not taking anything for granted, while governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and United Democratic Front (UDF) led by President Peter Mutharika insisted that they will fight for each vote until the end.
Afrobarometer, a pan-African, independent, non-partisan research network that measures public attitudes on economic, political, and social matters in Africa, conducted the surveyin November last year by their regional partner and local think-tank, Centre for Social Research based in Zomba.
During the survey, respondents were asked which candidate or party they would vote for.
A total of 32.3 percent of the respondents said they would vote for DPP while 31.7 percent said they would vote for MCP and 12 percent said they would vote for UTM.
UDF had 1.6 percent of the vote while PP and Aford, each registered 0.1 percent of the
Five percent of the respondents said they would not voe while 5.8 percent were undecided.
MCP spokesperson has said the dynamics may have changed now and could be beter for the opposition alliance.
“We appreciate that Afrobarometer is credible, but the figures might be stale now,” he said.
Political scientist Henry Chingaipe agrees that “lot of changes have happened on the political scene that could potentially swing the voting patterns.”
DPP spokesperson Nicholas Dausi said the DPP-UDF is gaining ground and heading for victory.
Whatever the case, after a year of firghitng the botched elections and arguments, debate, discussion, spin and speculation, the outcome of this watershed election will be known on July 2 or voting day may be pushed earlier to June 23 by Parliament, according to Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC).
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what type of reporting is this? The results show individual parties and not alliances. In alliances it is not 2+1 = 3. The alliance will cause some disgruntled supporters cross the floor and this is the most likely. So you can not deduce from the report that Tonse Alliance or Dpp/UDF alliance will win.
The poll has confirmed the DPP won elections last year
The poll shows that DPP won last years elections because it was the most popular party in November
MCP-UTM using an outdated poll which shows DPP the most popular party.
The political situation is more tilted towards the opposition than it was in November 2019 because the winning of the Con court presidential elections case and also the appeal case in February and May respectively has provided more ammunition to the opposition. DPP has been bruised and is in a state of despair, it cannot recover in the remaining 5 weeks.
I trust afrobarometer. Unfortunately this opinion poll is outdated. Why not conducting a fresh one?
Infact now it’s 67 to 33 in favour of UTMCP
Iwe kayombe ku Mwanza uko khala chete mbuzi
Bola osakhumadwanso. Court doesn’t cast votes. People do.
“Conducted November last year”, release of the report comes after almost 7 months, you guys u r joking! Celebrating for this kind of outdated report? Shame on you. Anyway, its nice at the moment to hear that u will win and take my word, you are yet to be surprised because there is completely a different picture on the ground. A lot has happened and the race is on, who takes the mantle!! That time people were saying they will vote for MCP bcz they thot the data collectors had been sent by MCP thugs and they were afraid to… Read more »
Kayombe iwe, mutu ngati Dausi, fotseki!!
That’s a total lie. Chakwera is only ahead on social media. He will be chekhwelized @ the poll.
Thanks afro barometer for the survey but no way DPP can lose the election with what so called tonse alliance. You can conduct another research and you will get it right. The opposition is full of sham, greedy and dishonest people. Again, no way ppl can waste their votes for these evils. But I don’t like the way our president is doing. People like Joyce Banda and Mtambo were supposed to be hand cuffed for the wrong doings but you are just watching them playing dirty politics. This is very bad. Now the judiciary is running the govt you still… Read more »