President Bakili Muluzi’s hand-picked successor was sworn in on Monday as Malawi’s new leader, as opposition supporters waged running street battles with security forces over the result of the impoverished Southern African country’s third multiparty elections.
Police used live ammunition and tear gas to break up the rioting, which erupted on Sunday when Bingu wa Mutharika was declared the winner of Thursday’s vote, despite opposition allegations that it was rigged.
Opposition supporters barricaded roads with large boulders and torched offices and cars belonging to the ruling United Democratic Front.
Witnesses said at least four people were killed in the clashes in crowded suburbs of the economic capital, Blantyre. Hospital officials confirmed two of the deaths.
Security was high in the city centre and streets were largely deserted. Stores were boarded up and there was no public transportation.
Despite the violence on Monday, Wa Mutharika’s inauguration went ahead as scheduled, though the stadium where it was held was only a quarter full.
Muluzi, Malawi’s first democratically elected leader, thanked the country for “10 happy years as your president” as he handed over power on Monday.
“We have been a model of democracy in the region. You have done me proud,” he said.
Muluzi chose Wa Mutharika, his economic planning minister and a former World Bank economist, to succeed him after he failed to alter the Constitution to allow himself a third five-year term.
“This is a day of joy for all Malawians,” Wa Mutharika said at the ceremony. “We have moved another milestone in consolidating democracy.”
He said his first priority will be eradicating the crushing poverty that has marred the country’s first decade of multiparty rule, promising a series of reforms to boost investor confidence, diversify the tobacco-based agriculture, crack down on corruption and encourage growth.
“My point of departure is that Malawi is not a poor country, but it is the people of Malawi that are poor,” Wa Mutharika said.
Gwanda Chakuamba, who heads the seven-party opposition Mgwirizano coalition, accused the Malawi Electoral Commission of conspiring with the ruling party to ensure Wa Mutharika’s victory and declared himself the rightful winner on Sunday.
“I am not surprised that they rushed to swear in their man to thwart all our efforts to seek justice,” Chakuamba’s deputy, Aleke Banda, said on Monday. “But we will try all we can — both legally and politically — to see that the will of the people of Malawi is not taken for granted.”
Muluzi accused Chakuamba and his coalition of fomenting unnecessary tensions.
“For someone who has come third, it is unbelievable for him to cry foul and declare himself president,” Muluzi said at the inauguration.
Wa Mutharika received 35% of Thursday’s vote, compared with 27% for John Tembo of the former ruling Malawi Congress Party, according to results announced on Sunday by the electoral commission. Chakuamba took just less than 26% of the vote.
However, the ruling party failed to retain its parliamentary majority, picking up just 49 of the National Assembly’s 193 seats, electoral officials said. The Malawi Congress Party won 60 seats, the Mgwirizano coalition had 28 and independent candidates took 38. A number of smaller parties accounted for the remaining seats.
Parliamentary voting was postponed in six districts because of errors on the ballot papers.
International observers, who gave Thursday’s vote a partial endorsement, also noted irregularities in the registration process and severe media bias during campaigning.
While voting took place peacefully, opposition supporters took to the streets before the results were announced to voice concerns about the count.
Opposition officials say they accept the parliamentary count, but say they will ask the High Court to overturn the presidential result.
For almost 30 years, this former British colony was governed as an absolute dictatorship by self-proclaimed president-for-life Hastings Kamuzu Banda. Thousands of political opponents were jailed, tortured or killed while Banda amassed a fortune.
Under pressure from Western aid donors, he was removed in the first multiparty elections in 1994. Muluzi’s reign brought greater freedom, human rights guarantees and new political parties. But despite promises to fight poverty, more than half of the 12-million population survive on less than $1 a day. — Sapa-AP
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