BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—The survey by Institute of Public Opinion and Research (IPOR) has rated the opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) presidential candidate Lazarus Chakwera highly in terms of respondents’ voting choices.
IPOR investigator Dr. Boniface Dulani presented the State of Governance report on Monday in Blantyre.
Findings of survey, which was fielded between 25 April and 3 June, 2020 indicate that Tonse Alliance torch bearer Lazarus Chakwera and his running mate Saulos Chilima will win the forthcoming presidential election with 51 percent, a minimum requirement for a presidential candidate to be declared winner as ordered by the Court.
According to the survey, the preference of presidential candidate at national level reveals that about 51% of Malawians will vote for Chakwera, a torchbearer of the Tonse Alliance, while 33% of the respondents said will vote for the incumbent President Peter Mutharika, torchbearer of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and United Democratic Front Alliance.
About 10% said they had not decided while 2% said they will note vote. Four percent of the respondents refused to answer.
On economy, 85 percent of Malawians feel the country’s economy is on a downward spiral while 14 percent believe the economy is performing well.
Malawians also feel that government has failed to address crucial issues affecting them such as food security, according to the survey.
The study findings also indicate that Malawians generally rate poorly the government performance in solving what they consider to be most important problems. Three quarters of Malawians had a negative view of government performance in handling pressing problems, against 22 percent who had a positive assessment.
Asked on what political party can best address the most important national problems, a majority said Malawi Congress Party (MCP) is better placed to solve the country’s most pressing problems with few respondents saying no other party could better handle the country’s problems.
Malawians are expected to vote for the leader again after the courts nullified the 2019 presidential election and ordered a fresh poll within 150 days from February 3 when the Constitutional Court delivered its judgment which was later upheld by the Supreme Court.
