Political experts predict minority govt after polls

Political experts are predicting a minority government after the May 21 highly contentious polls, saying the results would be worse than those of 2014.

In 2014, President Peter Mutharika got 36 per cent of the vote whilst Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) had 32 per cent with Joyce Banda getting 28 per cent of the vote.

Ernest Thindwa, a political scientist at Chancellor College of the University of Malawiu said the political landscape has completely changed with the coming in of Saulos Chilima and his UTM Party.

“The likelihood is high that the government will be in minority. The political landscape shows no candidate will win with the 50+1 vote,” said Thindwa.

He said the margin of victory of the next president after the elections will be worse than the 2014 presidential poll result.

“This will put to question the legitimacy of the next government. People will start talking about a tribal or regional government,” said Thindwa.

Government engineered the defeat of the 50+1 bill which would have forced a rerun vote if no candidate amassed more than half of the vote cast during an election.