On May 20th this year, the southern African nation of Malawi will go to the polls to elect a president, members of parliament and local government representatives. The forthcoming elections will be the tightest since the introduction of multiparty democracy in 1994 as 12 presidential candidates line up to battle over about seven million votes. The incumbent President Joyce Banda is pitted against three strong challengers. Most high profile is Peter Mutharika, brother of the late President Bingu wa Mutharika and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) - the party Banda herself represented during the 2009 election as a running mate to Bingu. She was booted out of the party two years down the line and formed her People's Party after it was apparent Bingu wanted his brother to succeed him. Bingu died on April 5th, 2012 while in office and was replaced by Banda in line with the country's constitution, which stipulates that a vice president assumes office when a president fails to finish his or her term by way of incapacitation or death. Banda's second stiff challenger is Atupele Muluzi, son of former president Bakili Muluzi from the United Democratic Front. While some [...]
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