Malawi’s Mutharika suffers worst opinion poll ratings, Chakwera leads – CMD

President Peter Mutharika is suffering the worst opinion poll ratings a Head of State has ever experienced in power, according to the latest figures released on Wednesday by Central Media Development (CMD) limited.

The survey results made available to the media were finding on a political leader with the potential to win the heasrts and minds of Malawians and donors.

“Central Media Development Limited conducted a nationwide survey to establish which politician can attract the much needed donor confidence and take the country out of the economic turmoil being experienced after Malawi lost donor support,” the pollsters said.

The survey was conducted from September to November, 2016.

CMD Limited is believed to be owned by among others, Reuters correspondent Mabvuto Banda and used journalists and university students in its survey.

“The research was commissioned after noting that from mid-2014, no political survey has been commissioned to measure the political temperature, find out the popularity of some political figures, what potential do they have to take Malawi forward.

“This was also against the background of a lot of political osmosis and major political parties seemingly having power struggles. There are several developments that point at people positioning themselves for the position of presidential candidate for the 2019 general elections.

“However, it should be noted that any politician who is going to carry the day in the next general election should be able to win the hearts and minds of both the electorate and the donor community in Malawi,” said the pollsters in their results.

It said the fight against official corruption and corrupt practices in general should be part of the political statement.

“ It became apparent that the public are looking at issue based politics since they have discovered the vital role of that sound economic plans play well in national development  As such the respondents nationwide were approached with such questions,” said CMD Limited.

According to the published results in the poll,  Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president Dr.Lazarus Chakwera has “a comfortable grip” of the southern region (46%)while  President Mutharika picked up 4% of the vote, former presidet Joyce Banda picked (15%) in while those voting for candidate under the “others” category registered 2%.

“From this result, it is clear that theMalawi Congress Party has gained a lot of political capital due to the weak economic environment prevailing in the country. In addition, the name of Mr. Sadik Mia has contributed to the performance of the party which had less support ever since late Gwanda Chakuamba left the party in 2004 and formed his then Republican Party. The support in the lower Shire, Blantyre and the East belt has come about with Mr.Mia,” reads the poll.

It said  Mutharika has lost grip due to the constant electricity power cuts that has affected every person since even in the villages they need power to run maize mills.

The price of the staple has contributed to his bad performance in the southern region.

In the 10 district covered in the Central Region survey, Chakwera has a moderate lead at 42%, Mutharika polled 6 %.

“The survey noted that the dwindling of the tobacco market and the poor price of the leaf is part of this poor outcome. The then famous agriculture subsidy seems to be losing focus since the central region though being a great farming area is being shunned at the expense of the Shire Highlands where the fertilizer is sold to commercial farmers.

In the north, Chakwera has a steady lead with 41% of the vote.

It said the performance of the DPP is rather weak in the region as reflected by Mutharika’s performance of 5%

“It is important to note that the Northern Region has the largest number of ‘other’ or undecided voters. There is a ‘wait and see ‘stand,” said the pollseters.

The overall performance at national level shows  Chakwera has a lion’s share with one 160) respondents saying he is the politician who can attract donor support and confidence and remove the country from the weak economic environment representing 42% of the electorate.

Mutharika trai l in fourth  position with 503 respondents representing 10% of the survey and “other” politicians with 172 respondents finishing the final 4%.

MCP and DPP spokespersons asked for more time to comment on the poll as they had not seen it at the time of going online with this article.

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