A recent national survey conducted by Institute of Public Opinion and Research (IPOR), which was aimed at finding the public mood and state of governance ahead of the forthcoming presidential election slated for June 23, has indicated that Tonse Alliance torch bearer, Lazarus Chakwera will win the election.
According to the survey findings, which was conducted from May 25 to June 3 this year, 53% of the people will vote for Chakwera of Tonse Alliance while Peter Mutharika of DPP-UDF alliance will get 31%.
The presentation of the findings was made by IPOR Director of Research and Operations, Boniface Dulani, on Monday at Malawi Sun Hotel in Blantyre.
According to Dulani, the survey was conducted based on four main objectives.
Dulani said: “We had four main objectives, namely; to assess the public mood ahead of the fresh presidential election, to understand the perspectives of voters on the state of preparedness among different stake holders on the upcoming election, to assess how Malawian voters intend to vote in the election and to gauge public knowledge about the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The main findings of this study shows that there is likely to be a clear winner in the candidate of Tonse Alliance, Lazarus Chakwera and his running mate, Saulos Chilima.”
According to the findings the respondents were categorized into six age groups and across all age categories, Chakwera/Chilima Tonse alliance led as the preference presidential candidate in the forthcoming presidential election.
However looking at presidential preference by the country’s regions, 72% and 79% of the people in the central and northern region respectively said they will vote for Chakwera and Chilima of Tonse alliance while in the Southern region, ,Mutharika and Muluzi of DPP-UDF alliance are likely to get more votes by 65% as compared to 20% of Chakwera and Chilima.
The study also sought public opinion about the party that Malawians think indulges the most in the political violence which indicated that 37% mentioned the governing DPP as the party which propagates the most political violence, 29% mentioned MCP, 14% said it’s all parties, 6% mentioned UTM while 2% indicated UDF.
On the issue of corruption, 43% said DPP is the most corrupt party, 12% mentioned MCP, 4% mentioned UDF while 3% pointed fingers at UTM.
Commenting on the survey, a political scholar at chancellor college, Ernest Thindwa, said the findings are not surprising and they reflect true picture on the ground.
IPOR conducted the survey with funding from Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA)
