General Elections, 21 May 2019

Cyclone Idai, March 2019 

Cyclone Idai made landfall in central Mozambique the night of 14—15 March 2019 before moving across southern Africa, including Malawi. Floods caused by Idai heavily impacted 81 sites in Chikwawa, Nsanje, Zomba, and Phalombe districts of Southern Malawi (IOM 2020). The flooding impacted around 860,000 Malawians; of these nearly 10 per cent (approximately 85,000) lost their homes and were forced to evacuate to makeshift settlements (European Commission 2019) and there were almost 60 fatalities in the country (AU 2019).  

Impact on the electoral process  

Due to the flooding, many affected people lost their ID cards and voter registration cards. The cyclone also impacted infrastructure in the country, causing areas to become inaccessible, and complicating electoral preparations. During the campaign period, candidates stated that they were unable to get their messages across to would-be supporters living in evacuation camps (Masina 2019). 

According to the African Union’s election observation mission, the country was able to overcome the impact of the flooding and made it possible for flood-affected citizens to vote on election day (AU 2019). 

Voter turnout was 73.9 per cent, compared with 70.7 per cent in 2014 (International IDEA n.d.).