As the general elections draw closer, opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has said it is in the initial phase of alliance talks with various opposition political parties.
DPP spokesperson Shadric Namalomba said that once the party concludes this phase, it will lead a meeting in which all the political parties will agree on a way forward.
Namalomba said that they have a team facilitating the meetings and will soon reveal which parties have been engaged.
However, he said the party is encouraged by the fact that “some parties want the DPP to lead the alliance”.
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“We are indeed meeting almost all the parties. What we are not doing is simply knocking on their doors and sharing with them our idea about forming an alliance.
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“We are meeting each party separately and there is a team within our party facilitating that. Once we are done with this phase, we will meet as a family, all the parties that share the common goal of removing the Malawi Congress Party from government, to discuss the way forward,” Namalomba said.
However, one of the party leaders who has already met with the Peter Mutharika-led DPP, speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed the former ruling party insists that both the presidential candidate and the running mate must come from DPP.
“I just came from a meeting on the same issue and DPP is counting us out on both the presidency and running mate positions. So, why are we even talking about an alliance?” the source said.
Recently, National Development Party president Frank Mwenifumbo supported the idea of DPP leading the alliance talks, arguing that it is the biggest opposition party.
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Mwenifumbo said this is not new in Malawi’s political landscape, adding that in the last elections, President Lazarus Chakwera led alliance discussions that ousted Mutharika from power.
“Whether you say I have been sent by Mutharika or not, I don’t care. As a matter of fact, Mutharika is also a Malawian. It is a fact that DPP leads command in the opposition, and he must call all of us for possible alliance discussions,” Mwenifumbo said.
Mzuzu University political analyst Chrispine Mphande said that for any alliance to succeed, compromise among the parties is crucial.
“DPP might be acting this way because last time they took an outsider, Saulos Chilima, as running mate, and you saw what happened—he ditched the party while still vice president. So, they fear that taking an outsider could be a risk, especially if the president becomes incapacitated.
“However, DPP does not have an option because they need an alliance to achieve the 50 percent plus one threshold, and they will have to look to other parties,” Mphande said.
So far, no formal political alliance has been formed.
