Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Lilongwe (Fides Services)- The official results of elections in Malawi on 20 May (see Fides 18 and 22 May) confirmed as president Bingu wa Mutharika, candidate of the UDF party with 1.119,000 votes 140,000 more than John Tembo who won protests votes in the north and centre of the country. With almost the same number of votes, in third place came mini-coalition leader Gwanda Chakwamba who to remove all doubt proclaimed himself president of Malawi and refused to step down until the country is freed from the man who cheats and calls himself president. Fourth was Brown Mpinganjira (250,000 votes) and fifth former vice president Justin Malewezi (70,000 votes). There was clashes and people killed while the Opposition has rejected the election results.
“The outcome was no surprise” a missionary in Malawi for years who asked not to be named for security reasons, sent Fides his comment on the elections in that African country. “The results were announced a day late. Cases of fraud were not lacking and in their report European Unity observers described the vote as peaceful but by no means "free and fair".
The electoral commission printed 7.5 million voting papers and then discovered that the eligible voters were 6.5 million. In the end 3 million of a population of 12 million placed their vote. Absenteeism was widespread and as it is often said democracy lost many people along the way.
Yesterday 24 May there was the inauguration at Chichiri sports stadium in Blantyre decorated with the UDF colours even before the results were announced. The event drew all the heads of state of the big southern African countries: Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Robert Mugabe from Zimbabwe, Joachim Chissano from Mozambique and from North Africa Muhammar Gheddafi sent an official representative.
The stadium was empty also because of the violence which raged all day Sunday 23 May in every corner of Blantyre and led to fires and targeted devastation against members of the UDF. The Polytechnic College radio station was closed and its journalists arrested for inciting to revolt against what they termed usurped elections.
Even though Bingu wa Mutharika is the new president, at present the country in ungovernable. The UDF party in power has 49 MPs plus 5 of the Party with which it shared the electoral campaign. 55 MPs who are lost among the 193 members of Malawi’s parliament. The party with the most MPs is still the MCP led by John Tembo, with 60 MP. The address delivered by the new president of Malawi brought nothing new. Nevertheless there was one positive sign. Bingu wa Mutharika promised to reduce the number of ministries from over 30 to less than 20, to fight corruption at all levels, to move the President’s Residence from Blantyre to Lilongwe, where there is the Parliament building. The new President confirmed promises made in the electoral campaign: factories in villages, loans to the poor and grants for families of children without parents, women with no income, disabled person and lower the price of fertiliser”. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 25/5/2004, righe 45 parole 613)
