The performance of the Malawi Congress Party in general elections: The role of sectionalism of a regional and ethnic nature

Abstract

In this article, an attempt has been made to explain the performance of the Malawi Congress Party
(MCP) in the general elections by focusing mainly on the 2009 presidential and parliamentary elections
in which the MCP lost overwhelmingly. Specifically, the role of sectionalism of a regional and ethnic
nature on the MCP’s national level performance was examined. Different kinds of data from the Malawi
electoral commission and news media are used in the analysis. Descriptive statistics are used to
summarise the effects of different factors on the party’s share of votes. It is found that a complex
combination of factors such as district and regional sizes, education level of voters as proxied by
district and regional level data, party level policies and organisation, incumbency, campaign
expenditure, individual leaders personal characters and past legacy, party conduct in parliament among
others, may explain the MCP’s 2009 defeat. The findings may be considered as broad guidelines along
which efforts to reinvigorate the party may be galvanised.