News and analysis

Some political parties have cried foul over the new format for presidential debates which says only parties fielding parliamentary candidates in not less than 10 percent of the 193 constituencies will take part in the remaining two sessions. Presidential candidate for New Labour Party (NLP), Friday

Malawi’s opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Peter Mutharika and George Nnensa who leads the Tisintha Alliance have confirmed that they will turn up for the second phase of the presidential debates to be held next week Tuesday in Lilongwe and the final debate on May

The State broadcaster Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) has received credit from some influential civil society organisations and media institutions for beaming live the historical first Presidential debate held at the Bingu International Conference Centre auditorium room in Lilongwe. MBC

The Council for Non- Governmental Organisations in Malawi (Congoma) has urged Malawians to vote for a government that can be trusted with the public purse and one that will deal with the cashgate without fear or favour. Congoma makes the call in a report made available to the press yesterday

Four of the twelve presidential candidates in the May 20 polls failed to show up for yesterday’s debate organised by the Malawi Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa. The four, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the Peoples Party (PP), Tisintha Alliance and Chipani cha Fuko gave

For the first time in the history of our democracy, a Presidential debate was organised and broad cast live on some radios and television stations.

Malawi on Tuesday has held its first-ever presidential debate which two of the four main contenders between twelve candidates in next month's elections took part as millions watched and listened to the live debate held in the capital, Lilongwe and broadcast on Zodiak radio, Times TV and state MBC

President Joyce Banda’s handlers, who have convinced her to shun debates that Misa Malawi and other electoral stakeholders have organised in Lilongwe and Blantyre, are completely being unfair to her and their actions are damaging her chances to reclaim the State House.

The first of the two presidential debates starts next week to be followed by a second seven days later. The debates will be on domestic policy. On display will be style and substance—both of which are important performance indicators in this political theatre. Had all the 12 presidential candidates

Malawi President Joyce Banda has snubbed the first-ever presidential debates expected to start soon, citing "clash of programmes" and "tight campaign schedule" as reasons for the decision. The President, according to People’s Party (PP) secretary general Paul Maulidi, has already communicated her

The presidential candidates debates which are slated for April 22 and 29 and May 6, 2014 organised by the National Media Institute of Southern Africa – Malawi Chapter – and approved by Malawi Electoral Commission will only involve opposition torch bearers as incumbent Head of State Joyce Banda will

We find it baffling, if not downright bizarre, that Malawi President Joyce Banda would rebuff the presidential debate at this crucial time. A multi-stakeholder task force on the presidential debates, endorsed by the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) and chaired by the National Media Institute of