An overview by Stevie Kauka
Malawi goes to the presidential elections next year in 2025. Three types of voting or electing leaders will take place on the same day in Malawi. Electing the President who becomes the State President and head of government, Chief commander of the Armed forces Malawi also elects MP Members of parliament representing the constituency currently at 193 or there abouts with additional areas being added and the third one is of councilors under Local government to represent various wards under each district.
Of particular interest of this article is the party convention (will not bother to talk of the other two elections as those normally are at a lower lever and also through primaries)
But what is a national political convention?
We look at how USA defines it ,United States presidential nominating convention is a political convention held every four years in the United States by most of the political parties who will be fielding nominees in the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
political convention, or party conference, In politics, a meeting of members of a political party at the local, state, or national level to select party leaders and candidates for office and to determine party policy. During presidential election years in the U.S., the main parties hold conventions that serve to showcase their presidential and vice-presidential candidates and to boost the morale of party members for the campaigns that follow. Conventions were instituted in the U.S. in the 1830s to replace the often exclusive and secretive caucus system; it was hoped that the conventions’ openness would make them less vulnerable to control by party bosses. Most candidates for political office at all levels in the U.S. are now nominated through primary elections, and the conventions merely ratify the candidates already selected by the voters. Political parties in other countries (e.g., Great Britain) often hold annual party conferences.
Back home in Malawi General elections were due to be held for the Legislative Council in Nyasaland on 28 April 1964, and would have been the first in the country under universal suffrage. However, there were no opposition candidates to either the Malawi Congress Party in the general roll seats (the Nyasaland Asian Convention had dissolved itself and declared its support for the MCP),[1] or the Nyasaland Constitutional Party in the special roll seats, resulting in all 53 candidates winning without votes being cast.
MCP leader Hastings Banda remained Prime Minister, leading the country to independence as Malawi on 6 July. Banda spent the next few years consolidating his power. By 1966 the MCP was the only legally permitted party and by 1971 Banda had made himself president for life. The MCP would remain the only legal party until 1993, eventually losing power in the first multiparty post-independence elections in 1994.
Fast forward Truth be told there are only two big parties in Malawi Opposition DPP and Ruling MCP. Other notable parties are UDF , AFORD and UTM with some mention of PDP of Nankhumwa , PPM of Katsonga among others . Some will only spring 10 months before elections and disappear weeks after elections.
The die is cast for the three leading political parties in the country regarding their elective conventions. The parties are the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the UTM Party (UTM). But is the playing field level?
The holding of these all-important elective conventions before an election year derives from the parties’ respective constitutions. Most parties mandates ended in 2023 meaning they are holding those positions illegally however this can be excused as it was by default due to the fact that elections were annulled in 2020 which were to end a term in 2024 so most parties agreed to run their terms to4/ 5/6 years to conform to the new elections calender.
For MCP, the indaba has been set for August 8 to 12, 2024. DPP has said it will hold its after MCPs in August . No date has been set yet. UTM, on the other hand, has not given a hint, save to confirm that, like in MCP, the mandate of the current leadership ended in 2023. In other words, for the past five months and counting, all UTM leaders are holding positions illegally.
Although each party has mentioned that every position is up for grabs, there is very little or no contention about whom each one of them wants to put up for the parties’ top leadership position. It is the incumbent presidents. The National Executive Committee (NEC) of each party has ensured that the incumbents on this position face no opposition.
MCP has settled for President Lazarus Chakwera, DPP for Peter Mutharika and UTM is not clear after the death of Chilima. All that the parties want is for the conventions to rubber stamp the respective party’s NEC choice.
The real contest will be for other positions. For example, for MCP secretary general Eisenhower Mkaka is said to be facing the toughest fight. Not surprisingly, some aspirants are disgruntled and are alleging that the party or NEC is changing the rules of the game against the constitutional provisions just to disadvantage some candidates.
It is a serious anomaly that the same NEC officials who are vying for positions in the party’s politburo are also the organizers of the convention. Where will fairness come from when you have a player who is also the umpire? The Leaders needs to seriously consider the complaints from some party aspirants who claim they are being shut out of the contest by fellow aspirants.
Unfortunately, the party leaders may be compromised for being a beneficiary of the undue favours from the same NEC which is barring other contestants.
Opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has set August 17 and 18 2024 as dates for its elective convention ahead of the September 2025 General Election.In a statement dated July 1 2024 and signed by DPP spokesperson Shadric Namalomba, the party said the main agenda of the convention, to be held in Blantyre, will be to elect new leadership, including the party’s presidential candidate during next year’s polls.
But political analysts have predicted that the meeting will unlikely have challengers for incumbent leader Peter Mutharika, who has been endorsed by many senior party officials and the party having eliminated some contenders that stood in his way.
For DPP, the road to the current state of affairs in the party has not been without altercation. It has seen longtime party loyalists and NEC members such as Kondwani Nankhumwa, Greselder Jeffrey and others fired from the party for putting the party into ridicule embarrassing its leadership.
Without necessarily condoning their missteps on party protocol, DPP would long have avoided the tragic turn of events which culminated in the dismissal of some of its members.
The main problem in DPP after the party was ousted from power has been weak leadership. The man on top could not stamp his feet on the party. This is what gave rise to the two main camps—with one for Mutharika and the other for Nankhumwa. The latter is now out but my gut feeling is that there is something cooking that could hurt DPP. The DPP has provided little or no opposition in parliament and or outside parliament.The party could have done better to keep all its membership intact because a party’s strength is in the number of people who can vote for its leadership.
As for UTM, no one knows exactly what is cooking in the party. There are just too many uncertainties. Apart from the mist on the convention issue, no one knows anything compounded with the death of Chilima the party president .
Challenges of conventions Malawi context
Mudslinging
What does the term “mudslinging” mean?
Political mudslinging is a form of negative campaigning that has the metaphorical implication that candidates or politicians are “throwing mud” at each other. This is also called smear campaigning or mudslinging campaigning. It involves a large use of “ad hominem” attacks, or character attacks against political opponents.
What is a political attack?
A political attack is a political move made by a candidate or person or group associated with a candidate or incumbent, during which the attackers attempt to make their political opponent(s) appear incapable or incompetent. The attack can be toward the person’s policies, or the attack can be toward the person’s character.
What is a mudslinging election?
A mudslinging election is an election during which a lot of mudslinging occurs. Candidates will use personal or character attacks against each other on the political stage in order to try and obtain more votes.
Corruption of contenders over delegates /making those with money to win.
Party leaders already endorsed rubber stamping
Selective application of rules of choosing or nominating candidates
Ethnicity and tribalism in selection of party leaders
Use of handouts to delegates to win votes
Solution to counter challenges of the conventions
A balanced political convention on elections should level field and the organizers have to be promote fairness and parties should follow their constitutions to the latter on delegates, eligibility of the voted and not changing rules to suit a particular candidate or candidates
