Political Analyst, Wonderful Mkhutche, says the race for the presidential seat in the 2025 Tripartite General Elections will be between the ruling Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) following the United Transformation Movement (UTM)’ decision to quit the Tonse Alliance.
He says UTM will not battle for the top seat as it will, in the next few months, deal with the leadership crisis within its ranks following the death of its founder, Saulos Klaus Chilima last month.
In an interview with Malawi24, Mkhutche was also quick to warn MCP that it will find it very difficult to campaign and win because it is now ‘politically exposed’.
He described the decision by UTM as impulsive, stating that they should have waited until they resolved their leadership crisis before denouncing the alliance.
On the next year’s polls, he said:” But it is now clear that no party is going to win next year’s elections on its own. Alliances are now a must because minus a coalition, voters will be forced to go into the second round of voting to find a winner.”
Commenting on the position of Vice President Micheal Usi who did not even attend the meeting, Mkhutche said it’s either he associates with UTM and jeopardizes his position or joins forces with MCP through Wakudya Zake Alibe Mlandu to secure his position.
The Tonse Alliance was formed in 2020 by MCP, UTM and seven other parties to dethrone DPP following a court ruling to nullify the 2019 presidential results for a fresh presidential election in 2020.
According to what Chilima was claiming before his death, the agreement was to let Lazarus Chakwera, the current head of state, be the torch bearer in 2020 and allow Chilima to lead the Alliance in 2025 polls.
However, Speaker of Parliament, Catherine Gotani Hara, was the first person to declare Chakwera as the presidential candidate for the next general elections, describing him as the right person to continue leading Malawi till 2030.
On 14 May this year, Chakwera, during the commemoration of Kamuzu Banda, came out clearly in the open to declare his candidacy for the next elections in front of Chilima who was also in attendance.
This brought some mixed reactions in the public sphere but surprisingly, Chilima remained silent until he died in a plane crash on 10th June alongside eight others on their way to Nkhatabay for the burial ceremony of the former Justice Minister and the Attorney General, Ralph Kasambara.
After 21 days of mourning, a decision by the National Executive Committee on Friday to leave the alliance was announced by the party at its headquarters in Lilongwe.
UTM says it will now shift its focus to the 2025 polls.
