Malawi at the Crossroads: Does the Fear of Contracting COVID-19 Affect the Propensity to Vote?

Chirwa, Gowokani Chijere; Dulani, Boniface; Sithole, Lonjezo; Chunga, Joseph J.; Alfonso, Witness; Tengatenga, John

doi:10.1057/s41287-020-00353-1

Cited by 27 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…For instance, those who are sick may be unable to go to the polls, or voters may be afraid to go to the polls, viewing polling stations as vectors of infection. Chirwa et al (2021) find that Malawians concerned with infection were less likely to state they would attend the polls. We expect this relationship to persist during the elections.…”

Section: Covid-19 Natural Disasters and Electionsmentioning

confidence: 76%

Elections in the time of covid-19: the triple crises around Malawi’s 2020 presidential elections

Dulani

Harris

Ferree

et al. 2021

Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties

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In June 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Malawians went to the polls and voted to replace the incumbent government. Much like other natural disasters, the Covid-19 pandemic and accompanying economic and political shocks had the potential to shake voters' confidence in the government, reduce turnout, and/or reduce support for the incumbent if voters associated them with the ills of the pandemic. In this paper, we examine the extent to which the Coronavirus pandemic influenced Malawi's 2020 elections. We consider how fear of infection and economic distress affected citizens' trust and confidence in President Mutharika's government, their willingness to turn out to vote, and their choices at the polls using data collected pre-and post-Covid. We find that fears about the virus and its economic impact did influence trust and confidence in the government to handle Covid but had little to no effect on either abstention or vote choice.

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Section: Covid-19 Natural Disasters and Electionsmentioning

confidence: 76%

Elections in the time of covid-19: the triple crises around Malawi’s 2020 presidential elections

Dulani

Harris

Ferree

et al. 2021

Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties

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“…The COVID-19 pandemic has affected various spheres of life worldwide, with economic, social, and political impacts (7)(8)(9). Following the WHO declaration, countries around the globe, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), have been leaning on response plans to respond to the pandemic and contain transmission of the virus.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inequalities in Knowledge About COVID-19 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Alsharqi

Qattan

Alshareef

et al. 2021

Front. Public Health

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Background: As the world is still being ravaged by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the first line of prevention lies in understanding the causative and preventive factors of the disease. However, given varied socioeconomic circumstances, there may be some inequality in the level of proper knowledge of COVID-19. Despite a proliferation of studies on COVID-19, the extent and prevalence of inequalities in knowledge about COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia are not known. Most related studies have only focused on understanding the determinants of COVID-19 knowledge. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the socioeconomic inequalities in knowledge regarding COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia.Methods: Data were extracted from an online cross-sectional self-reported questionnaire conducted on the knowledge about COVID-19 from 3,388 participants. Frequencies and graphs were used to identify the level and distribution of inequality in knowledge about COVID-19. Concentration curves and concentration indices were further used to assess and quantify the income- and education-related inequality in knowledge about COVID-19.Results: The level of COVID-19 knowledge was high among the surveyed sample, although the extent of knowledge varied. The findings further suggest the existence of socioeconomic inequality in obtaining proper knowledge about COVID-19, indicating that inequality in comprehensive knowledge is disproportionately concentrated among the wealthy (concentration index = 0.016; P < 0.001) and highly educated individuals (concentration index = 0.003; P = 0.029) in Saudi Arabia.Conclusions: There is inequality in the level of knowledge about COVID-19 among the more socioeconomically privileged population of Saudi Arabia. Given that COVID-19 cases ebb and flow in different waves, it is important that proper policies be put in place that will help in improving knowledge among the lower income and less educated individuals, leading to behavior that can help reduce transmission.

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“…The incubation period for COVID-19 is an average of 5-6 days or may be 14 days. 14 Thus, we fitted the analysis model to daily COVID-19 case data when α takes the following numbers (i.e., 4,9,14).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2,3 An individual's perceived risk of contracting COVID-19 and a city's proximity to a COVID-19 cluster are associated with a lower likelihood of participation in voting. 4,5 Campaign rallies and polling stations can be areas of potential infections, and voters may be reluctant to participate. There have been several reports on the association between elections and COVID-19 incidence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Electoral processes and COVID-19 infections in Japan

Murata

Nagata

Ogata

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Election campaigns and polling stations might be areas of potential infections; however, it is unknown whether elections can impact the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). This study aimed to evaluate the association between election process and COVID-19 infection in Japan. Quasi-experimental design using time-series COVID-19 cases data with an election intervention. We chose the cities where elections for major and/or city/ward assembly members were held in 2021 January in Japan. The study period for each city spans one weeks before the start date of the election campaign and three weeks after the voting day (36 days). The daily number of patients testing positive for COVID-19. We used Poisson regression analysis with sandwich estimator to evaluate the association between election and the spread of COVID-19 infections. For Miyakojima City, we assessed the relationship between election and COVID-19 infections by using the Box-Jenkins autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model. We also estimated the instantaneous reproduction number (Rt) in the city. There were 17 cities that met the inclusion criteria. In all models with three types of different lag effects (i.e., 4, 9, and 14 days), election was not a significant predictor of COVID-19 infections in the 17 cities. For Miyakojima City, the autoregressive integrated moving average (0, 0, 0) with a lag of 14 (alpha=14) was the best model. The partial coefficient (omega) of the election was 11.91 (95% confidence interval: 3.10, 20.72, P<0.001), indicating that the election was associated with an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases 14 days after the election campaign (mean: 12 cases/day). Rt hovered far above 1 during and after the election campaign in Miyakojima. Although elections were associated with an increased number of COVID-19 cases in Miyakojima, this association was not verified in the analysis including all 17 cities. Therefore, if preventive measures prescribed by election guidelines are followed, elections do not necessarily relate to a spread of COVID-19 as long as the election process does not involve activities necessitating close contact.

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Malawi at the Crossroads: Does the Fear of Contracting COVID-19 Affect the Propensity to Vote?

Cited by 27 publications

References 26 publications

Elections in the time of covid-19: the triple crises around Malawi’s 2020 presidential elections

Elections in the time of covid-19: the triple crises around Malawi’s 2020 presidential elections

Inequalities in Knowledge About COVID-19 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Electoral processes and COVID-19 infections in Japan

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