BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—President Arthur Peter Mutharika, who has been indoors ever since the Malawi Electoral Commission officially launched the campaign period, will from on Wednesday go on a country wide campaign tour in a bid to solicit votes ahead of the fresh presidential poll slated for June 23, 2020.
According to a statement from the Office of President and Cabinet, on Wednesday, 17th June, 2020, President Mutharika, who is a torchbearer of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and United Democratic Front (UDF) Alliance, will depart Blantyre for Lilongwe and make a stopover at Ntcheu Boma at 12:00 O’clock.
At 3 O’clock, the Malawi leader will address people at Biwi Triangle in the city of Lilongwe and on Thursday, 18th June, President Mutharika will at 11 O’clock address people at Mzimba Boma.
Later the same day at 2 O’clock the Malawi leader will be at Chitipa Boma and finally at 4 O’clock the President will address people at Karonga Boma.
This will be his first time to visit the north since April last year.
However, his absence in the region was justified by the DPP officials saying it was for security reasons.
DPP regional governor for the north Christopher Mzomera Ngwira said the party officials advised Mutharika not to visit the northern region because of the violent protests which according to them were a security threat to the Head of State.
All the regions were hit by waves of violent ‘Jane Ansah must go’ protests which were aimed at forcing the Malawi Electoral Commission chairperson Jane Ansah and all other commissioners resign from their positions following a court ruling which found them incompetent in the handling of the May 21, 2020 elections.
As Mutharika was absent on the campaign trail, his running mate Atupele Muluzi has been moving around the country urging people to vote for President Mutharika for continued development.
Recently, Muluzi was in the northern region holding campaign rallies and whistle stop tours.
Malawians are expected to vote for the President again after the courts nullified the 2019 presidential election and ordered a fresh poll within 150 days from February 3 when the Constitutional Court delivered its judgment which was later upheld and upgraded by the Supreme Court.