Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

These three leaders control politics in Malawi, which is characterized by polarisation and political deadlocks over issues such as floor crossing and presidential power. 

Contentious political climate

In 2008, the political climate in Malawi remained contentious Several unresolved political issues carried over from previous years continued into 2008. The constitutional reform process continued to be stalled. An important reason for this is that the proposed amendments would weaken the position of Mutharika's party. The debate on Section 65  (which deals with floor crossing) remained a bone of contention and led  to political tussles between the ruling party and the opposition throughout the year.

On several occasions, the opposition members of parliament threatened to reject the national budget because of the stalemate on the issues of floor crossing. The government used every means to salvage the budget and the issue of illegal floor crossing therefore remained unresolved up to the end of the year.  

Another issue that was carried over from 2007 was the appointment of the commissioners for the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) by the ruling party DPP. Opposition parties maintained that they were not consulted on the appointments. Although juridically the problem has been settled, and the commissioners are carrying out their assignments, the opposition still feels it is not represented in the Commission.

Party politics

Preparing themselves for the elections in 2009, most political parties have held primaries for people aspiring to become MPs. These primaries attracted serious interest and media coverage. With the emergence of a new political party, the DPP, on the political scene, most of the sitting MPs changed allegiance in the course of the year, switching from their original parties to another, particularly from UDF/AFORD to the DPP.