Malawi Elections

Tues May 19th was Malawi's Presidential Election day. This was a huge deal... Macdonald talked about it in his letter, Daniel from Freedom Gardens was talking about it on Facebook and many of the blogs I read were anxious about hoping the elections remained peaceful. From everything I read, it went very well and stayed peaceful. The current president, Bingu Wa Mutharika was elected for another 5 year term.

Check out this BCC article about the election. Take a look at the polling stations picture. The article also mentions the huge turnout, people were exercising their right to vote! Way to go!

I asked Dr. Kelly's input on the election and here are her thoughts:

"Yes, the election was good news. Perhaps Malawians are finally accepting a democratic government. I wrote the students in this summer's Study Abroad, explaining the significance of having the first peaceful election. I'm really happy that Mutarika won. He's a good man but had strong opposition from the former two regimes. My friends there say that it's evident people voted for candidates rather than the party. There were surprise wins. And that's good."

I stole this picture from another blog:

The sign says "Be proud of Malawi. Peaceful Elections. YES WE CAN!" Who does that sound like? Oh yes, Malawians love Obama! (Daniel became a fan of Obama on Facebook!) Apparently they even sell fabric with Obama's head picture on it.

Here is the BCC article about Mutharika's inauguration. I am so happy for Malawi! A peaceful election is a big deal!