Briefing Paper

A Country Turning Blue?: Political Party Support and the End of Regionalism in Malawi

“This bulletin draws on data collected in four Afrobarometer surveys of public attitudes to examine trends in party support in Malawi over the course of the last decade, looking especially at the extent of regionalism in Malawian party politics. How regionally diverse are the support
bases of each of Malawi’s leading political parties? Can the country’s dominant parties in fact call themselves “national parties” that draw support from throughout the country, or are they instead a mere collection of regional parties that reflect local parochial interests, rather than the
nation as a whole?”

1 November 2009