A study by Chancellor College (Chanco), a constituent college of University of Malawi (UNIMA), has disclosed that chiefs have no influence on the voting process.
The findings released in “The Paradox of Traditional Leadership in Democratic Malawi” study by the department of Political Science and Administrative Studies at Chanco have disclosed that Malawians are not influenced by traditional leaders to vote for particular individuals.
The findings have however disclosed that Malawians do trust chiefs on developmental issues than Members of Parliament (MPs) arguing that lying among politicians has been a contributing factor.
According to the study, people are fed with promises during campaign period that later fail to materialize.
Meanwhile local chiefs have welcomed the study that shows their power on their subjects on development.
The findings however may surprise politicians in Malawians who give handouts to traditional leaders so that the chiefs should influence their subjects to vote for the politicians during elections.
