A new study by the Afro-barometer has found that support for democracy is on a decline with 23 percent since 2012, and that a slim majority of the citizenry say Malawi is "a democracy with major problems."

A report of the findings says four out of every ten Malawians are satisfied with the country's democracy, representing 39 percent of the population, hinting that this is a 10 percent drop over the past decade.

However, the study reveals 53 percent of the population, feels that democracy is the most preferable system of governance.

Joseph Chunga, a research fellow at Centre for Social Research, a department under Malawi University, singles out corruption and quality of elections, as some of concerns participants of the study raised.

Commenting on this, political scholar Yamikani Chitete, backs the study saying poor leadership, and the prevailing economic challenges bring pain to most Malawians.

"The report just shows what's on the ground, because when you look at promises by political leaders and what really is delivered, it does not match when they get into government," she says.

Chitete feels the falling out of the Tonse alliance government, is another reason people have developed mistrust in political leaders, saying it broke their expectations.

Human rights activist Michael Kaiyatsa, believes civil society organizations can help to restore democratic values in politicians, by holding engagements with aspiring candidates during election periods.

"It's really a sign that people are seeing what is happening, and are not happy, that's why it's important that political parties as cornerstones of democracy should reform," he stresses.

"The negative perception that people have of our democracy is not only because we have not taken an active role as CSO's to educate the masses on what democracy entails."

Currently, Malawi is geared for tripartite elections scheduled for 16th September, as over 7 million people have registered to cast their votes.

(Written By: Kenphord Mdima)