Vera Chirwa

"Men have been dominating Malawi politics for too long. Maybe that's why they are blundering. But I think that if a woman can come up, she would improve a lot of things"

"I am still available, watching with keen interest. If the current government fails, I will certainly stand as a presidential candidate in the next elections."

"Actually I did not withdraw, I stepped down. Many people in Malawi asked me to stand; it was under that pressure that I decided to declare myself an independent presidential candidate. But later the church saw the opposition was not very strong, so they decided to form a coalition. We needed a change of government, for many reasons.... There were nine parties at the time, so the church advised me not to stand, because I was going to divide the votes. So I applied to join the coalition."

"Unlike all the others, I satisfied all the conditions to be their presidential candidate but I hear they rejected me when they discussed my application. They were afraid of me. Here in Malawi we are still chauvinistic."

"Where I was voting there was peace, people voted freely. I am president of Women's Voice and director of the Malawi Centre for Advice, Research and Education on Rights. We participate in voter education and we also do monitoring. All the information I received from my own offices told me the elections have been almost peaceful."