Low turnout mars local poll

Low voter turnout marred Malawi’s first multi-party local government elections, dampening hopes that it would lead to the strengthening of local authorities, electoral officials and political observers said on Wednesday. The electoral commission said less than half of the 5.2 million registered voters had cast their ballots in the elections on Tuesday - making it the least successful poll since the country reverted to plural politics in 1994. “Under 20 percent of registered voters in most urban areas cast their votes,” electoral commission spokesman Fergus Lipenga told IRIN in a telephone interview. “The situation was slightly better in the rural areas, where some 50 percent of the people on the voters roll participated in the voting.” Lipenga estimated overall voter turnout at 30 percent down from over 80 percent in the country’s two previous general elections. The poll on Tuesday was the country’s first multiparty local government poll since President Bakili Muluzi of the United Democratic Front (UDF) assumed the presidency to end three decades of iron-fisted rule by his predecessor, Kamuzu Banda. The election for 2,000 councillors was intended to devolve powers from the central government to the country’s 39 local government municipalities. The new system, among other things, empowers councils to levy taxes, to spend money at their own discretion, and to run social services such as education and health. However, a poorly managed electoral and education campaign on the future role of the councils led to a high abstention rate during the election. “There are widespread complaints that the civic education campaign that preceded the election was not very effective. Most prospective voters do not understand what the new system will entail and decided to abstain,” Lipenga said. Other observers blamed the poor turnout on growing disillusionment with politics in the impoverished country of 11 million people. “People are tired of voting politicians into office, only to see them prospering at the tax payers expense. Meanwhile, the voters remain as poor as they were before,” a government journalist said. Muluzi’s government has come under sharp international criticism over perceived corruption in recent weeks, prompting a cabinet shake-up and a criminal investigation involving three sacked ministers for their alleged role in a US $2.5 million fraud scam. However, political analysts forecast a landslide victory for the UDF in the poll. Its main opponent, the former ruling Malawi Congress Party, has had its electoral campaign damaged by a financial crisis and an internal power struggle. The results of the local government poll are expected on Thursday at the earliest.