Mia says Chakwera can choose new runningmate

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Malawi Congress Party (MCP) Vice President has given party leader Lazarus Chakwera blessings to choose another person as runningmate ahead of the fresh presidential elections.

In a statement on Facebook today, Mia said the ongoing talks for an MCP-UTM alliance have his full blessings.

“This is time to save and serve Malawi! In the impending fresh election, I am ready to sacrifice my running-mate position if that is what it will take to save our country. Malawi, our dearest country, is bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions! Malawi first! Viva Malawi!,” he wrote.

Mia also told a local radio station that he joined MCP to serve Malawians and he can do that in any capacity.

Last month, the Constitutional Court nullified the 2019 elections and ordered Malawi Electoral Commission to hold fresh elections.

The court also ruled that the winner in presidential elections should get 50 percent plus one vote of the votes cast, saying this is the true meaning of the term “majority of the electorate”.

The ruling has forced UTM which is led by Saulos Chilima and the MCP to start talks over a possible alliance with the hope that the alliance will be voted for by the majority of electorates in the 2020 fresh elections.

If the alliance is formed, it is likely that Chilima and Chakwera will  represent the alliance with one being presidential candidate and the other runningmate.

Chilima and Chakwera were both on the ballot in the 2019 presidential elections where Chakwera amassed 1,781,740 votes while Chilima got 1,018,369.

Chilima’s runningmate in the 2019 elections, Michael Usi, said last month that he is ready to step aside.

 

 

 

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