Malawi 2009 General Election Results Summary

Presidential Election Results
Here's a summary of the presidential elections results, based on the schedule of results released by the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) at 12:228pm on Saturday, May 23rd 2009.

Candidate	Votes For	Share of Valid Votes
Bingu wa Mutharika (DPP)	2,946,103	65.98%
John Tembo (MCP)	1,370,044	30.69%
Kamuzu Chibambo (PETRA)	35,167	0.79%
Stanley Masauli (RP)	33,887	0.76%
Loveness Gondwe (NARC)	32,160	0.72%
James Nyondo (Independent)	27,328	0.61%
Dindi Gowa Nyasulu (Aford)	20,151	0.45%
Total valid votes:	4,464,840

Parliamentary Election Results

I have reconciled the results of the elections of May 19th as released by the Malawi Electoral Commission with those announced on the radio and circulating on the Internet. I did note a couple of errors on the list that has been doing the rounds on the net. For instance, one seat that was won by the MCP candidate in Dowa South East was allocated to a DPP candidate who actually came second. Another seat that was won by an independent candidate in Thyolo South was listed as having been won by the DPP candidate. In yet another case, two independent candidates were both listed as having won the same seat in Zomba Likangala. In Lilongwe Msozi North, the wrong person was listed as the victor yet the winner was a different person, albeit also an independent. Having made these corrections, here's the final parliamentary list:

Party	Seats Won	Share of Seats
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)	112	58.33%
Malawi Congress Party (MCP)	28	14.58%
United Democratic Front (UDF)	17	8.85%
Alliance for Democracy (Aford)	1	0.52%
Maravi Peoples Party (MPP)	1	0.52%
Malawi Forum for Unity and Dvt (MAFUNDE)	1	0.52%
Independents	32	16.68%
Total	192

* note that elections were not held in one constituency following the death of one of the contesting candidates.

While the DPP is short of the two thirds majority by 16 MPs, it is worth recalling that a high proportion of the candidates that were elected on an independent ticket were those that were frustrated in one way or another in the DPP primary elections. It is likely that a majority of the 32 independents will side with the DPP when parliament meets. Indeed, already, a number of the new independent MPs have rejoined the ruling DPP, further bolstering the ruling party's numbers before the new Parliament has even met. The opposition parties (MCP, UDF, Aford, MPP and MAFUNDE) between them have a combined total of 48 seats, translating into 25 percent of the seats in the new Parliament.

Parties that will receive Parliamentary Funding

As the numbers currently stand, only the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) with 58.33% and the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) will be the only parties entitled to receive parliamentary funding on account of the fact that they have at least 10% of the seats in Parliament. For the first time since 1994, the UDF will not be eligible to receive Parliamentary funding.

More Women in the new Parliament

The campaign to increase the number of women legislators in the new Parliament appears to have had some success, albeit marginally. The 2009-2014 Parliament will have a total of 42 lady legislators (22%) - up by 15 from the last Parliament which had 27 lady MPs (14%). The new figure of 22 percent is still lower than the SADC gender protocol which called upon member states to have a minimum of 30% female legislators.

High Turnover of MPs

One characteristic feature of the May 19th elections has been a high turnover of legislators. The new Parliament retains only 53 of the original 193 legislators that sat in the House in the last Parliament. A whopping 139 of the 2009-2014 Parliamentarians (73%) are entering the National Assembly for the first time (138 if we exclude Khwauli Msiska, who was a member of the House in the 1999-2004 Parliament). The list of casualties applies across the board. The DPP is returning 26 MPs from the last Parliament, while both the MCP hand the UDF have returned 12 each. MPP's Uladi Mussa, and two independents - Cassim Chilumpha and Billy Kaunda are the other three returnees.