Malawi: The Referendum Results (1993)

Extracted from: "Malawi" IN Compendium of Elections in Southern Africa (2002), edited by Tom Lodge, Denis Kadima and David Pottie, EISA, 127-128.

The opposition alliance of the UDF and Aford won the referendum with an almost landslide 63,5% majority vote, and immediately demanded that Dr Banda step aside for a coalition government of national unity to prepare for multiparty elections before the end of the year. According to the national referendum commission, a total of 3.15 million people cast their ballots out of an electorate of some 4,7 million - a high 67% voter turnout by African, and certainly by world, standards. However, the vote was very irregular and regionally differentiated. The Northern Region and the Southern Region provided an overwhelming vote for multiparty politics - up to 85% and Malawi's largest city, Blantyre, was 86% in favour of change. But, while the alliance swept the north and the south, in an almost complete reversal of the national trend, the ruling MCP got about 63% of the vote in the Central Region. Final results gave those in favour of multi party politics 1 993 996 votes and those for the continuation of one party rule 1 088 473 votes - there were 70 979 spoilt votes, a mere 2,25% of the total votes cast.

The MCP had won majority support in only eight of the 24 districts of Malawi. And this in spite of the fact that the UN monitoring team observed that the run up to polling day was marred by intimidation of pressure groups by the para-military Malawi Young Pioneers (MYP). International observers concluded that because it was the supporters of the multiparty option who were hampered by misconduct, their victory was valid - even though it would have been wrong to call the referendum "free and fair". Dr Banda saw no need to resign to make way for a transitional government, although he accepted the results and said that he would respect the people's verdict by setting up machinery to implement changes, starting with the legalization of other political parties, a general review of the constitution and other laws on the statute book, followed by general elections within a year.

One of the most serious threats to the transition process in Malawi now lay in dissention among opposition groups, notably the UDF and Aford. Given the voting pattern in the referendum, if opposition votes were split between two or more parties, there was a good chance of the MCP winning an election by the plurality margin. However, after the referendum Malawi's governance had become remarkably transparent and for the first time journalists were reporting on issues that in the past were considered taboo. More than twenty independent newspapers, all of which were often very critical of the government and of Dr Banda, in particular, had mushroomed in the new climate of relative tolerance. The judicial system, which had lost credibility because of interventions by the President and some of his cabinet colleagues, also had some of its stature restored.

Opposition parties remained convinced, however, that the MCP would continue to obstruct the preparations for multi-party elections. They feared that the transition process would be swamped by the unwieldy structures and procedures set up by the government. The main forum for negotiation was the regular meetings between the PCD [Presidential Committee on Dialogue ] and the PAC [Public Affairs Committee]; however, the transitional National Consultative Council (NCC) was held up as the "supreme body", and its decisions were to be followed by Parliament. Three sub-committees were formed: one on new electoral laws and procedures, a second on constituency boundaries, and a third on drafting a new constitution before elections. In essence, this was a diluted version of the interim government that the opposition had demanded previously. And the transitional National Executive Council (NEC), which oversaw the security services, the central bank and other key institutions, was in effect a type of "shadow cabinet".

Although progress towards democracy in Malawi was slow, because most of the country's legislation had been specifically designed for a one-party state, a political metamorphosis was clearly taking place. Thus, Malawi's largely rubber stamp legislature convened in November 1993 to amend the constitution and remove other legal underpinnings of decades of one man rule.

Simultaneously, it was announced that an electoral commission (on which all parties contesting the elections would be represented) was to oversee Malawi's first multiparty elections on 17 May 1994. The NCC also agreed to increase the number of seats in the Malawian Parliament to more accurately reflect population densities. In a further development, the NCC agreed to separate parliamentary and presidential elections, and explained that "the president may not necessarily come from the party with the largest block of seats in Parliament, but would be a popularly elected president".

Then, rather dramatically, Dr Banda had to undergo neurosurgery in early October 1993. A three man Presidential Council was set up to rule Malawi on behalf of the President, for as long as he was unable to perform the functions of his office, which turned out to be only two months. Not having much of a choice, by virtue of his being life president of the party, the MCP indicated that it would field Dr Banda as its presidential candidate.