By Isaac Salima & Blessings Makuwira:
Leaders of UTM, Alliance for Democracy (Aford) and United Democratic Front (UDF) met over the weekend, when they discussed the issue of going into an electoral alliance.
Those who are privy to the issue have told us that UTM president Dalitso Kabambe, Aford’s Enock Chihana and UDF leader Atupele Muluzi held alliance talks but that they are yet to reach a consensus on the issue.
While keeping a tight lid on the outcome of the meeting, Chihana confirmed to have discussed the alliance issue with leaders of the two parties.
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“Three leaders of opposition parties indeed sat and shared notes. You know we have one thing in common as we are all in opposition; so, there are some things we need to sit down and discuss and see how we can approach the 2025 [general elections]. Malawians should just wait and see how we are going to progress with our discussions,” he said.
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He added that there were a number of things that needed to be done before they could come up with an alliance.
UTM spokesperson Felix Njawala also confirmed that the meeting took place, adding that Malawians would be informed of the outcome at an appropriate time.
UDF officials asked for ample time before they could comment on the issue.
Apart from UTM, Aford and UDF, other parties that have hinted at working together are People’s Party (PP) and Malawi Forum for Unity and Development (Mafunde).
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Over the weekend, PP Eastern Region governor Maxwell Sakwiya expressed confidence that their alliance with Mafunde party would bring about positive change and development to Malawi come September 16 2025.
Sakwiya made the sentiment at a political rally held in Balaka District on Saturday.
According to Sakwiya, PP has a solution to the challenges that Malawians are facing.
He said challenges that Malawi was facing were due to failure by the current administration.
“The rising cost of commodities at the market is a clear indication that the current administration has failed Malawians, hence the need to vote for the PP and Mafunde alliance, which will automatically bring positive change to many Malawians that are suffering out there,” Sakwiya said.
Meanwhile, aspiring member of Parliament for Balaka Ngwangwa, George Mnesa, has urged Malawians to vote for the alliance if they want development activities to proliferate in the country.
Mnesa said their alliance with PP would help them address challenges that Malawians were facing.
“Let me urge you to vote for us in the coming elections if you want development activities to take place in the country,” Mnesa said.
Meanwhile, political commentator George Chaima has urged parties to ensure that they formalise their electoral alliances.
“Parties must ensure that they assess their strengths. Honestly, in Malawi there is no party at the moment that can go solo and win the elections. What they need to do is to look for stronger alliances and draft a contract on how the alliance would be run. This is because when the alliance is endorsed by the law, it will be difficult to breach its terms,” Chaima said.
With the 50-percent-plus-one voting system that came into effect after the 2019 presidential election, parties have been prompted to form electoral coalitions.
However, new electoral laws stand in the way of political parties that may decide to go it alone as they may have no opportunity of negotiating for a position of running mate in the event of a runoff.
The amended laws do not allow candidates to change their running mates.
Speaking recently, Zomba-based political scientist Ernest Thindwa said most political parties would likely not go into alliances in the first round so that they test their strength and use it as a bargaining tool when discussing the issue of alliances in the case of a re-run.
In the court ordered presidential election of June 23, 2020, nine parties joined forces to form Tonse Alliance, which was led by President Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi Congress Party, who partnered Saulos Chilima (deceased) of UTM.
UTM and Aford were part of the Tonse Alliance while UDF partnered the-then governing Democratic Progressive Party.
