MALAWI: POLITICS - President Joyce Banda casts her vote in a tight election that has her down as favourite to win and the country's opposition already crying foul

Record ID: 565468

  • Title: MALAWI: POLITICS - President Joyce Banda casts her vote in a tight election that has her down as favourite to win and the country's opposition already crying foul
  • Date: 20th May 2014
  • Summary: MALEMIA VILLAGE, ZOMBA, MALAWI (MAY 20, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF VOTERS LINED UP TO CAST THEIR VOTES VARIOUS OF MALAWI'S PRESIDENT JOYCE BANDA ARRIVING AT POLLING CENTRE (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENT OF MALAWI, JOYCE BANDA, SAYING; "All I can say is that what they have seen is that I have brought out the best from inside. I have run around. I have worked hard. Malawi is a better place than I found it. But the decision to give me the other five years does not belong to me." BANDA RECEIVING BALLOT PAPER BANDA CASTING HER VOTE
  • Embargoed: 4th June 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Malawi
  • Country: Malawi
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2L3UUMXNHLKX9MT8EN2S3FIT
  • Story Text: Malawi's President Joyce Banda on Tuesday (May 20) voted in the most closely contested election since the end of the one-party state two decades ago. The incumbent Banda, southern Africa's first female head of state, is facing no fewer than 11 challengers.
    Many of her rivals have already cried foul, saying they have unearthed plots to rig the ballot, although diplomats say they have seen no credible evidence of vote-rigging.
    Delays and mess-ups - for whatever reason - are likely to fuel the sense of unease and distrust and increase the chances of post-election violence in the normally peaceful nation should any candidates reject the result.
    The election commission said it was working to iron out the problems.
    In the absence of reliable opinion polls, most analysts rank People's Party leader Banda as favourite because of her popularity in rural areas where she has been rolling out development projects and farm subsidies.
    After casting her ballot in the southern village of Malemia, Banda urged all sides to keep calm and said it was up to voters to extend her term.

    "All I can say is that what they have seen is that I have brought out the best from inside. I have run around. I have worked hard. Malawi is a better place than I found it. But the decision to give me the other five years does not belong to me," she told reporters.
    Banda came to power in the landlocked, impoverished nation two years ago after her predecessor, Bingu wa Mutharika, died in office.
    She initially enjoyed huge goodwill from the many who hated Mutharika's autocratic style, and won the backing of foreign donors and the International Monetary Fund when she pushed through austerity measures, including a sharp devaluation of the kwacha, to stabilise the farming-dependent economy.
    However, more recently her administration's reputation has been hit by a 15 million U.S. dollar graft scandal, dubbed 'Cashgate' after the discovery of large amounts of money in the car of a senior government official, that has soured relations with donors.
    Urban voters in particular have criticised Banda's response as ponderous and ineffectual.
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