Malawi voters would opt for MCP to govern, Chakwera to be President —Afrobarometer Poll 

A  new Afrobarometer survey has shown  that if elections were  held  today the main opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) can win the poll and its president LazarousChakwera can be Head of State.

Afrobarometer, an African led, non-partisan research network in a nationwide survey conducted by the Centre for Social Research at Chancellor College, a constituent college of the University of Malawi (Unima), interviewed 1 200 adult Malawians in both urban and rural settings.

The surveys released on Tuesday  are drawn from data collected during face-to-face interviews in December last year and January this year.

Professor Edge Kanyongolo, Professor Happy Kayuni and  Dr  Nandin Patel gave the research findings in Lilongwe during the Afrobarometer  Round 7 Dissemination.

According to the report, when respondents were asked which party’s candidate would they vote for if presidential elections were held at the time of the survey, 32 %:picked the MCP followed by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) at 27, and the UDF scored 11% while People’s Party got only 7.

Commenting on the findings, MCP Second Deputy Secretary General , Eisenhower Mkaka said they are pleased  with the findings.

Mkaka said this is what the party has always been saying that they do win the elections but the results are always twisted the other way round.

“Positive  news from Afrobarometer! We are leading if elections were held today: we are at 32%, DPP 27%, UDF 11%,  PP 7% and others 2% to us this is what we have always said, That  we have been winning the polls every body knows this and we will not relent but to fight hard till the results translate into real winning in 2019 polls,” said Mkaka.

However, DPP spokesperson Francis Kaasaila, who is also Minister Foreign Affairs, said he could not comment on a survey which he has not seen.

Kasaila said there were “discrepancies” between the presidential candidate for the party and the party.

“We need to analyse these issues before we cann comment,” he said.

But Kasaila struck a defiant tone saying President Peter Mutharika is likely to win the 2019 presidential elections.

In the Mid-Term Review Survey of the performance of President Mutharika and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Malawians also say government is not doing enough to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor.

In its key findings, Afrobaromete said: “Almost nine in 10 Malawians say the country is going in the wrong direction. This view is shared by large majorities in both urban and rural areas as well as across all major political parties.”

The survey also found that “more than half of Malawians” think the government is performing “fairly badly” or “very badly” on 13 of the 16 policy issues the survey asked about.