Det store spørgsmål er om en kvindelig afrikansk præsident for første gang vil blive stemt ud af sit embede i det mest hidsige opløb siden det sydlige Afrikas fattigste land vendte tilbage til demokrati med flere partier i 1993.
Four of the 12 candidates in the presidential race have a chance of winning, writes BBC online Monday.
They are preacher-turned-politician Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), Atupele Muluzi representing the United Democratic Front (UDF), Peter Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the incumbent (siddene præsident) Joyce Banda representing the People’s Party (PP).
Joyce Banda is one of three of female presidents in Africa and the current chairwoman of the regional body, the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
She became president following the sudden death of Bingu wa Mutharika in April 2012. If she loses she will become the first serving female African head of state and first serving Malawian president to have lost an election.
These elections are also significant because this is the first time in Malawi’s history that the country is holding presidential, parliamentary and local government elections on the same day. The last local government elections were held 14 years ago.
The economy is one of the issues that could decide the election. As recently as 2008, Malawi was second only to Qatar as the world’s fastest-growing economy.
But by the time President Mutharika died, the economy was in tatters.
Malawi’s economy is heavily dependent on aid. Donors provide 40 per cent of Malawi’s budget. They had frozen aid to the country after accusing the Mutharika administration of bad governance.
When Ms Banda came to power, aid taps reopened. Her economic reforms caused prices to soar, hitting the public hard.
However, there were signs that the economy was recovering. It grew by 6.1 per cent in 2013, compared with 1.9 per cent in 2012 when Ms Banda took office.
But the donors withheld aid again, over a scandal dubbed “Cash gate” in which millions of dollars worth of public money were allegedly stolen by civil servants.
Mere om Malawi på http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malawi
