Election Time

Malawi is leading up to elections happening next month, and the parties are ramping up their advertising and holding rallies all over the country.  The campaigning mainly happens either at live rallies or on radio shows, as that is the form of media most understood and wide-spread (TVs and internet are expensive and internet and newspapers require literacy).   There are billboards, flags, chitenge, and signs all over the country, and when there are rallies, supporters of that party turn up decked out head to toe in the party colour – I have even seen people who have used house paint to paint themselves the party colour!

It seems to be an unpredictable election, as the current president became president by default after the former leader died two years ago, and the vice-president succeeded him.  President Joyce Banda had left the ruling party when she was vice-president and started her own party, so the current ruling party is not the same as the current president.  Also, there was a big scandal involving a lot of aid money going missing in the fall, which has been nicknamed ‘Cashgate’, and those to blame for it vary depending on who you speak with.  It will be interesting to follow the elections when I come home, and see which party succeeds.