Malawi president should win 50+1 on regional aggregate – Analyst
A political expert has put forward a suggestion that the ruling party and the main opposition might not be comfortable with that a winning President should be declared winner after getting 50+1 vote aggregate from the three regions respectively.
The Livingstonia University political scientist George Phiri says this would discourage tribal or regional vote which put the President into power.
“Malawi should adopt this system of 50+1 and the final winner should have the 50+1 aggregated from all the three regions,” said Phiri.
Phiri said the winning President should have the 50+1 vote in the south, the centre and north respectively.
“If one gets the 50+1 votes from one region, then it does not represent the whole country,” he said.
The May 21 elections showed that Malawians voted on tribal and regional pattern with the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) winning in the south where President Peter Mutharika comes from and the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) winning the centre where its leader Lazarus Chakwera comes from.
Malawi uses the First-Past-the Post (FPTP) after Parliament rejected proposed electoral reforms, including the 50+1 system of electing the president.
Legislators now want to push for electoral reforms that were rejected last time.
Phiri also suggested that in the next elections, political parties should engage credible poll monitors to prevent and control vote rigging and vote manipulation.
It’s clear: some commentators smoke the strong weed. Fotseki.
This analyst is tribalistic. Where did you hear this taking place? Te current system of first past the post is good and has to be mantained. No party in Malawi can amass 50% alone unless ataphatikizana. So in 2024 expect the DPP to win again with 40%. in 2014 it was 36%, 2019 it was 38% and 40% in 2024 and so on and so forth mpaka 2084. Paja munauzidwa kuti DPP ndi mpaka 2084
No Candidate can achieve that unless if you agree on rotation of the president. Even there two candidate one can get North and central but cannot penetrate south
50+1 should be at national level. Malawi is too small to be so focused on regions
2024 kkkkkkkk muzagwa chagada,simutikwanisa
Hahahahaha, Mr. analyst! how many election rounds are we going to be holding in this country. This 50 + 1 thing does not change anything at all. If in the first round votes have been evenly distributed among candidates in the first round so much so that nobody gets the 50 + 1 majority, the 50 +1 majority is gotten in the second round not because one candidate has suddenly become widely approved, but because only two candidates compete in the second round!
We have to imprison wobela ma vote first and do away with it permanently then we can talk of 50+1.If this is left our, Gertrude,her Son,Peter Brother,her daughter and his great grand children will be presidents without right voters
The 50+1 is the perfect reform that will end regionalism and perfect way forward for Malawi with a combination of parliament hiring MEC. This I believe is the solution to all the confusion and injustice. These reforms need to be implemented before the next election.
Where will they get credible monitors in Malawi if the who Justice of Supreme Court who chaired MEC did not see anything wrong with Tippexed results????
Useless analyst. How many times are you to hold elections in a year with this silly thinking? what if he does not get 50+1 in the other regions? Every candidate or political party has a stronghold and it is that stronghold that boosts chances of a candidate to win.Even in the UK, there has never been a Prime Minister from either Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, but England because it is most populated.
“There has never been a Prime Minister from Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland, but England”????????????? kkkkkkkkk!!! For your info. Prime Minister Gordon Brown was from Scotland. Please up date your knowledge.
a Chimulirenji akanena kuti munthu awine 50% ku north this does not mean the north should have population yaikulu. if the whole north has 30,000 votes then someone who got 500, 000 votes from the central region should be able to get atleast 15,000 votes from the north. this is a great idea. i like it. munthu azikondedwa ndi amalawi onse. a good candidate must therefore find a way of convincing anthu a kumeneko (whether he/she is coming from that side or not).