A drive-by analysis of Malawi’s election

The whole election seems to have been pretty dodgy. From the outside it looks like all major parties have tried to cook the electoral books with some intense rigging, and the consensus is that it’s by far the closest election Malawi has ever had.

Of the candidates, we suspect Joyce Banda is the best of a bad bunch and may still just scrape through. The worst outcome would be Peter Mutharika, the late Bingu’s Yale-educated brother, who’s a half-wit (there were also rumors that the army would find a way of blocking his election if it came down to it, because they think he’s a half-wit, which might explain this). Atupele Muluzi is the son of Malawi’s second president Bakili Muluzi. Lazarus Chakwera is the guy who pretends he’s from Chicago. He’s an evangelical Christian, but then so is Joyce (TB Joshua congregant after all). Malawians really don’t deserve these people.

The odd, and potentially dangerous, part is that even after 3 days of voting, nobody seems to have any idea of who’s won or likely to win. That makes it very likely that any declared result will be contested.

For much better analysis, read Jimmy Kainja here and follow him on twitter. And Mabvuto Banda.