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MCP to field candidates in all constituences

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) says it will field parliamentary candidates in all 193 constituencies nationwide.

MCP national campaign director Moses Kunkuyu said at a press briefing in Blantyre yesterday that after completing its primary elections, the party has identified the right candidates to contest the May 21 Tripartite Elections.

Kunkuyu: We are done and ready

The party’s primary elections were characterised by disputes among aspirants but, according to Kunkuyu, a committee that was set up to resolve the queries completed its task and produced a final list of candidates. 

He said: “We are set to field aspirants in all the 193 constituencies. We consider this as a landmark development considering that previously we did not feature candidates in some constituencies, particularly in the Southern Region.”

 In the 2014 Tripartite Elections, MCP won 48 parliamentary seats after fielding 159 against 182 for the United Democratic Front (UDF) who won 14 seats.

The governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) attained 50 seats from 191 aspirants while the People’s Party (PP) contested in 192 constituencies out of 193 but managed to secure 26 seats. 

Besides MCP, the DPP and PP have also indicated they would field candidates in all 193 constituencies.

MCP president, who is also leader of opposition in Parliament, Lazarus Chakwera will be the first to present his nomination papers to Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) at Comesa Hall in Blantyre on Monday and Kunkuyu has warned DPP cadets to “keep space” for the party.

Said Kunkuyu: “We hope the DPP leadership will not have an abrupt arrangement of cleaning Blantyre City as they have carelessly done before to create unnecessary political chaos.”

But reacting to the accusation, DPP secretary general Greselder Jeffrey said MCP should not waste time with “baseless allegations”.

“Why should we waste our precious time to fight them ?” she asked.

Meanwhile, Chakwera is on Sunday expected to unveil the party’s aspirants contesting as legislators and councillors in Blantyre.

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