Political analysts in the country say Malawi needs more political parties as this is what Malawians wanted when they voted for multiparty democracy.
This is coming at a time when Malawi which has over 50 parties has had a new party, Alliance for Change spearheaded by controversial land rights activist Vincent Wandale.
Speaking to Malawi24, political scientist Wonderful Mkhutche from the Chancellor College said the country is in need of more parties as that’s what it means to have multiparty system of government.
“Systematically, we need more parties as in June 1993 we voted for multiparty democracy, this is what is happening and the good news is that our political party system has remained as we wanted it to be,” said Mkhutche.
He added that the challenge is coming with quality of ideas from the parties as they do not have distinct ideologies and they merely copy from each other on what they want to implement if they get into power and their manifestos explain a lot on that but in the end we have quantity not quality.
Mkhutche further said that the country’s political party system was a three horse race as between 1994 and 1999 Malawi Congress Party (MCP), United Democratic Front (UDF) and AFORD had the potential to be in power but in 2002 the system fragmented into what it is now.
According to Mkhutche, this happened in opposition to President Bakili Muluzi’s third term ambitions and that is the real Genesis of the many political parties.
He also said that having many political parties as compared to the United States of America depends on history of the two countries and political culture both of which have a great influence on the number of political parties a country has.
“American political party system is based on ideologies whilst Malawi’s goes with the want to assume power and politicians are not the ones to blame but the system they happen to be in,” he said.
He further said that old parties have lost people’s trust due to tendencies like dictatorship and failure to adapt to the ways of liberal democracy.
Concurring with Mkhutche, political analysts Humphrey Mvula said there is no problem in having many political parties since the constitution does not provide restrictions on the number of political parties.
Mvula told this reporter that the challenge is that Malawi’s political parties are not demand-driven and are not based on pursuance of a specific ideology.
He added that in other countries, parties pursue ideological opportunity either as Republicans or Democrats or socialist or any other such ideology.
This analyst i think is not from Malawi coz our nation is not lacking parties he better start his party if so
Political Analysts of Malawian standards call for more Political Parties & importation of everything.
MRA yambani kulipilisa msonkho ku zipani zandale chifukwa akupanga business yomwe ikupindulila azisogoleli ndi ma banja ao, osati kutukula ziko lino.
Nonsenseee for what reason should ppl be going different than this rubish we have
Apatseni ziphaso azipereka misokho nawonso.
Some political analyst are better for nothing how many parties do we have to the shame side all are thieves
thats demo-crazy.There is nothing our country is gaining from the current situation.I shall be happy when we shall have three,two heavy weights and one for balancing.The current ones should be dessolved because they promote regionalism,all of them.We need national parties.
Many political parties? They are the same. The difference is the color of the uniform they wear.
economical progress party (asians)
Malawi needs more hard werking men for it to develop faster nt more political parties.
Ihope our political artists are idiots
Bwee
Zichulukilenji zipani ngati maina ampira maina ena ngati foteleza. All we need is only 4 parties. Malawi is a small country but more parties geeeeez . modyera ndalama eti
even 4 r too many for our small country
KADZIKO NDIYE NGATI PABONDOPA ZIPANI 30 NDI MKUMATI ZIPANI ZACHEPA CHAMBA ETI.
I don’t know what qualification is required for one to be an analyst, and where to obtain such a qualification. Multiparty will remain multiparty even when these parties get down to two will still be multiparty consult your dictionaries, it says more than one its not a matter of scores of parties. Wake up Malawi a party is not a couple or a family these other parties have have zero followers what is it?
am coming to join ppm as the leader and i am confident we will win 2019 election
Malawi is in need of visionary leaders, those who want to see this country rise to the top of the mountain, not those who want to use it so that they themselves rise to the top and lookdown on all of us…
tea parties.
Kuwonjezela zipani mudziwekuti mukuwonjezelanso maphokoso mdzikolathu laling’onoli .
Mbuzi ya munthu imeneyo,,,zipani zina za chani…kungo analyst basi,,,,tamaonani nanu zolemba haa,,,dziko likusowa Mulungu ili osati zipani…panopa dziko lamawi lili pa matemberero amene analembedwa ku det
Ma analyst enawa mumakhala mwangowazizimusa amakhala alibe chonena….zipani zambiri ndi zomwe zkupangisa kt otsusa boma asamadxiwike zomwe akuimira..there z completely nothn they are known for apart from a useles flag..we nid parties wt clear ideologies n principle..like in america there are liberals and conservatives i.e democrats and republicans! Look at trump he z completely different from obama in theory n practice coz of the ideas he z standing for..pamene kumalawi sungasiyanise kt akulamula ndi wa dpp or pp kaya adra coz zipanizi zilibe mfundo zooneka ndi maso osat pa pepala pokha bas..amangokopelana..
100%, i agree big man.
I think these analysts some times they analyze bull shit…how can we have more political parties on top of 52 parties….malawi needs two parties for effiency approach to democracy.. ..
Malawi needs only 4 strong parties.