Chisomo Ngulube Writes

Campaigners for more female inclusion in positions of power have lamented the failure by some female political stalwarts to retain their Parliamentary seats. Preliminary results show that UTM General Secretary Patricia Kaliati who has served as Parliamentarian for Mulanje West since 1999 is among the unconfirmed casualties that also include former Minister of Gender and Democratic Progressive Party candidate for Dowa Central Jean Kalilani, former Malawi Congress Party spokesperson Jessie Kabwila, former first lady Patricia Shanil Dzimbiri, outspoken Dedza East former MCP MP Juliana Lunguzi and DPP secretary general Grezelder Jeffrey.

The campaign period is over. Malawians vote in Tripartite Elections on Tuesday, May 21 2019. Fifty six percent of the 6,859,570 registered voters are women. There is no woman contesting for the presidency as was the case in the previous 2014 elections. But in the battle for Parliamentary seats, of the 1,333 contestants 304 are women representing 23%. If previous trends are anything to go by women’s success rate will hover at around 20-30%. This despite the 50-50 Campaign mounted to increase women’s participation in politics. I [Chisomo Ngulube (CN)] engaged Viwemi Chavula (VC) of the 50-50 Campaign Management Agency on the 2019 campaign. 

Malawians will vote in Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections in a few days time. Figures released by the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) show that 55 out of the every 100 voters in the Southern African country’s May 21 Tripartite Elections will be women. In fact, in some areas such as the lake shore district of Mangochi, the number of women registered to vote far outweighs that of men as they comprise nearly 62 out of every 100 registered voters. Malawi 2018 Census figures that show that 51 percent of Malawians are women. The figures make women an important constituent of the electoral and governance process, although women remain at the peripheral even globally in terms of partaking of what is on the table; women are also remain grossly underrepresented in positions of influence including in the political sphere, prompting gender equality proponents to agitate for women’s inclusion.