(MaraviPost): The upcoming elections have confirmed fears that the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) the senior partner in the political collaboration with its political junior partner United Democratic Front (UDF) is pulling strings that will continue to diminish any influence the UDF had in the country.
The by-elections will be taking place in five wards of Khwawa in Karonga, Chibanja in Mzuzu, Msikisi in Mangochi, Zomba Central in Zomba City and Luchenza in Thyolo.
The DPP will not feature a candidate in Mangochi knowing fully well that their candidate stood little chance of winning and will instead support the UDF candidate, while in Zomba, DPP will feature a candidate who the UDF has been ordered to support.
Kondwani Nankhumwa, director of elections in DPP, said: “This is a gentlemen’s agreement. You know we are in a working relationship and these are some of the things we will be doing.”
Nankhumwa, who is also Minister of Information, Tourism and Culture, said DPP and UDF take every election seriously and appealed to members of both parties, who are eligible to vote, to come out in their large numbers and cast their votes.
The agreement, apart from Zomba and Mangochi where both parties have strong bases, does not extend to other regions where the parties are also featuring candidates.
According to the reporting in Malawi nation, UDF spokesperson Ken Ndanga, in a separate interview, confirmed about the agreement.
The by-elections were initially scheduled to take place on June 23 this year, but Treasury asked the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) to postpone them because government did not have K403 million proposed budget for the activity.
