Guardian Weekly reader Gillian Bennett was in Malawi for the national elections last week, and it’s definitely an interesting read:

Bicycles decorated with party flags and party colours added to the fun, as did the brightly coloured T-shirts and sarongs or “chitenges” as they are called here, specially printed with photographs of the presidential hopefuls worn by supporters as they went about their daily chores. 

The usual police roadblocks were doubled and police presence was evident but unobtrusive. On my third stop during the morning before the election, I waited somewhat anxiously as my driving licence was minutely scrutinised. “1938, eh?” commented the sergeant as he handed it back to me adding wistfully: “We don’t see many around from that date anymore.” Which of course they don’t, the average life expectancy being around 38 now.

The article shows how different the experience of voting is compared to elections in America:

We woke up to eerily silent streets on election day. People had begun queuing well before the 6am opening time at the polling stations, and officials arriving at 4.30am were confronted with lines of voters, many of whom had trudged through the night to be there early. Queues were orderly and good humoured, and there was an atmosphere of seriousness about the whole affair.

The various international agencies monitoring the election, which could be seen travelling to even the remotest polling stations, declared themselves generally satisfied with the conduct of the polls. Campaigning had been banned for the day before the election, giving time for party supporters to cool down and voters seemed very aware of the importance of the occasion and the value of each and every vote.