Terence Simbi, who spent 4 years studying in Malawi, said the election re-run in Malawi was uncalled for as there was no rigging in the first place.

Simbi Said the election results are virtually the same between the original election and the re-run and the only difference is that in the re-run the winning parties formed a coalition and that is how they managed to win over Peter Mutharika.

Simbi said Malawi’s elections are decided on personalities and regional distribution, rather than on the issues. He pointed out that each candidate and their running mates always do well in the region where they come from.

On the military, Simbi said the Malawi military is not connected to any one political party because Malawi did not go through a protracted liberation struggle. It is therefore not easy for even the ruling party to control the military.

On the economy, Simbi said Malawi is not self sustaining after reducing the size of the government and reducing foreign travel by ministers. This is however set to be reversed as the new coalition government might be forced to appoint more people to take care of everyone in the coalition.

Simbi said the key event to look forward to in Malawi is the formation of the cabinet, as this is where problems could arise between the coalition partners.

Simba said Peter Mtharika could easily have changed the election results but could have decided to walk away as a statesman for the love and stability of Malawi.

Terence Simbi is the author of the Book Zimbabwe, Installing a true democratic state