A political commentator says the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) – which according to unofficial results has lost the Presidential Elections – should be accommodated since it has a duty to serve as the leading opposition party.
The analyst Professor Danwood Chirwa said this in a Facebook post after unofficial results showed that Malawi Congress Party (MCP) candidate Lazarus Chakwera, who represented an alliance of nine parties, has won the Fresh Presidential Elections with 59 percent of the votes. President Peter Mutharika of the DPP has come second with 39 percent.
Chirwa said Chakwera’s imminent win should not mean a return to the one party system. He said the DPP should accommodated in the new era because the party has a constitutional duty to serve as the leading opposition party.
“Undoubtedly, this party has a lot to do, to reform itself and do what is required of it. But discharge its constitutional duty it must. We are a multiparty state,” said Chirwa.
Mutharika has ruled Malawi for six years. His brother, late Bingu wa Mutharika, also ruled the country before his death in 2012. Bingu became President in 2004 when he succeeded former President Bakili Muluzi who ruled the country for 10 years.
Chirwa expressed hope that Chakwera’s win has put to an end the 26 year hold of the Muluzi-Mutharika families on the country.
“Muluzi captured the democratic movement for the 90s using ethnicity as his main method, and later co-opted the Mutharikas to form a tribal pact that has unleashed a reign of tribalism and criminality and dashed the aspirations of many young people for the last 26 years. As one famous lawyer said, they turned Malawi into their joint estate. One hopes this day marks the end of the Muluzi-Mutharika tribal dynasty,” said Chirwa.
