Malawi ruling DPP’s publicist admits defeat in fresh presidential election

BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—Nicholas Dausi, who is the publicity secretary of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), has admitted defeat in the fresh presidential election held on Tuesday as counting of votes is still underway.

Unofficial results indicate Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) leading with 2, 510, 328 votes while President Peter Mutharika of the ruling DPP is trailing behind with 1, 645, 530.

But while Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) is yet to start announcing official results, Dausi has accepted defeat while expressing optimism of DPP comeback in 2025.

“We congratulate them for making it. We will try to work on our shortfalls. This fall has given us time to strengthen the party so that in the next election we should do better.

“We thank all the people who voted for us and be assured that we will come back into power. Conservative party in England stayed in opposition for 18 years, Labour Party stayed in opposition for 19 years but they managed to reclaim the leadership. What is needed is just to identify our shortfalls so that we should work on them and move forward,” said Dausi in an interview with local media.

At the national tally centre in Blantyre, there was no any DPP top official on Wednesday to witness the coming in of results from District Commissioners (DC) but MCP officials were seen everywhere flanked by the party’s publicity secretary Eisenhower Mkaka.

Maneno Chimulala

I am a journalist, educator, and activist with passion for telling stories about social justice, sports and political issues. I graduated from Mzuzu University. I started my career at the Maravi Post online publication in 2012 as an intern while in college. Upon graduating from Mzuzu University I was offered a job as Sports Reporter because of my background as a goalkeeper and rose to the position of sub editor. I also had a short stint with Nyasatimes, Malawi Punch and Malawi Digest. Over the past seven years, I have worked intimately with rural organizations and communities in Malawi on human rights, girl child education and grassroots development projects. With an academic background in education, I also volunteer as male champion for girls’ education under Girls Empowerment Networks (GENET) in Malawi’s South West Education Division (SWED).