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The performance of the
Malawi Congress Party in general elections: The role of
sectionalism of a regional and ethnic nature
Collins Greenwell Matchaya
Box 30088,
Lilongwe, Malawi. E-mail:
matchayag@yahoo.co.uk.
Accepted 17 May, 2010 |
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In this
article, an attempt has been made to explain the performance
of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) in the general elections
by focusing mainly on the 2009 presidential and
parliamentary elections in which the MCP lost
overwhelmingly. Specifically, the role of sectionalism of a
regional and ethnic nature on the MCP’s national level
performance was examined. Different kinds of data from the
Malawi electoral commission and news media are used in the
analysis. Descriptive statistics are used to summarise the
effects of different factors on the party’s share of votes.
It is found that a complex combination of factors such as
district and regional sizes, education level of voters as
proxied by district and regional level data, party level
policies and organisation, incumbency, campaign expenditure,
individual leaders personal characters and past legacy,
party conduct in parliament among others, may explain the
MCP’s 2009 defeat. The findings may be considered as broad
guidelines along which efforts to reinvigorate the party may
be galvanised.
Key words:
Democracy consolidation, Malawi Congress Party, general
elections. |
