By Nenenji Mlangeni
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Malawi’s Institute of Public Opinion Research (Ipor) research released on Monday reveals that main opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) is “clearly ahead” of all political parties as party perceived as “best capable of resolving what most Malawians consider to be the most important national problem – food shortage.”
The survey, dated October 2018 had a national representative final sample of 1 350 of eligible voters and was carried out between August and September this year to assess the political environment in Malawi ahead of the May 21 2019 Tripartite Elections and give an understanding of the political and economic environment of the country.
It was led by University of Malawi professors Blessings Chinsinga, Boniface Dulani, Joseph Chunga and Mwayi Masumbu with support from Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD).
The social and political scientists who conducted the research said MCP is followed by the newly formed UTM and its leader Vice President Saulos Chilima and then the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in that order, the survey firm says.
MCP spokesman Reverend Maurice Munthali said it was not surprising that the Lazarus Chakwera led party was identified as the most capable of resolving the country’s national problems.
Ipor said in its findings that interviewees were asked which political party they think is most involved in corruption.
“Over a third of respondents said they didn’t know. For those who were able to mention slightly under half of Malawians (44%) pointed at the DPP as the most corrupt political party, which was more than 4 times the next in line (PP).
“MCP and UTM were regarded as corrupt by the least number of participants as shown in figure 14,” reads the report.
The survey report also shows that DPP is yet again cited by nearly one third of Malawians as the “most violent political party” in the land. In second place is the MCP (18%) while PP, UTM and Aford are considered as the least violent parties.
DPP spokesman Nicholous Dausi said the party would take the negative findings to heart.
“We will take this report as valuable advice. It gives us hope that if we work harder we will win,” Dausi said.
The survey firm said the most outstanding observation is that elected leaders are less trusted than religious and traditional leaders.
Ipor said the implication is that the country is almost certain of having a government led by a president whom Malawians do not trust.
“This threatens the much needed trust for legitimacy of the next regime. On the other hand, it reflects on how badly political leaders have been performing against expectations of the electorate.
“Evidently, there is a strong call for politicians to work on restoring people’s trust to sustain their claim that they represent ordinary Malawians,” reads Ipor dispatch on the results.
However, Ipor which is a credible firm is expected to survey voters to predict the results.
