UTM president Saulos Chilima says the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and UTM alliance will win the 2020 fresh elections with 72 percent of the votes cast.
Speaking at a rally at Njamba in Blantyre, Chilima said his party entered into an alliance with MCP in order to win the elections and remove the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government.
He noted that use of the 50 percent plus one vote electoral system in the 2020 presidential elections means there will be a run-off if no single candidate secures an electoral majority. He added that for the run-off, the party that will finish third will be forced to form an alliance with one of the top two parties.
“There is no wisdom in going it alone in the polls and wasting money but not securing 50 percent plus one vote when we can form an alliance right now and secure 72 (percent of vote casts),” said Chilima.
He further said that an alliance is also convenient for voters because they will just vote once and the winner will be known without needing a run-off.
Chilima also used figures from the now nullified 2019 elections to substantiate his claims that the MCP-UTM alliance will win the polls.
In the 2019 elections, Chilima and MCP president Lazarus Chakwera got a combined total of 2.8 million votes while President Peter Mutharika and alliance partner Atupele Muluzi amassed a combined total of 2.1 million votes.
During the rally, Chilima insisted that the UTM remains a separate party and will never be sold to any party.
He said the party has only joined forced with MCP and other parties in order to fix the country.
“If all we understand that we are creating an alliance to fix Malawi, we will all move forward,” said Chilima.
Chilima then urged his supporters to register and vote for the presidential candidate and runningmate who will be chosen to represent the alliance.
