Malawians go to the polls for elections

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LILONGWE, Malawi, May 19 (UPI) -- Malawians went to the polls to choose their lawmakers and president Tuesday, guided by bread-and-butter issues, an African policy analyst said.

"(Politics) is the main game in town. We don't have the proliferation of cable TV and satellite TV. Only 6 percent of our population has access to electricity," Rafiq Hajat, executive director of the Institute for Policy Interaction, told Voice of America.

Lofty ideology isn't a large part of Tuesday's voting, Hajat said.

"The issues are very simple," he said. "It's all about how is my future going to be secured, how will I get my fertilizer? How will I be able to feed my family, and how will this leadership look after me?"

Leading presidential candidates are incumbent President Bingu wa Mutharika of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and John Tembo, head of a coalition of the Malawi Congress Party and United Democratic Front party.