Opposition ‘minnows’ form electoral bloc

Former governing People’s Party (PP) and Alliance for Democracy (Aford) have joined opposition political parties not represented in Parliament in a coalition to field one candidate in the 2019 Tripartite Elections.

While some of the involved parties were elusive when contacted yesterday, chairperson of the opposition grouping, Langton Chasowa—who is interim president of Republican Party (RP)—confirmed the development in an interview.

While hinting that the consultations were still in progress, said they have agreed to call their coalition as Tikonze Dziko Lathu.

“We will be calling for a convention shortly to elect our leader,” he said, adding they expect to finalise the process within a month.

But People’s Transformation Party (Petra) president Kamuzu Chibambo and his United Transformation Party (UTP) counterpart Newton Kambala said it was premature to start commenting on the issue.

University of Malawi (Unima) political scientist Happy Kayuni said a successful political coalition in the country would work better if smaller opposition parties worked with a party that controls a significant number of followers and is well recognised.

On Friday, the Chilima Movement—a grouping canvassing for the candidacy of Vice-President Saulos Chilima in next year’s presidential race—said it was open for coalitions ahead of the polls.

But Chasowa said his grouping was yet to approach the movement for a working relationship.

Besides PP, Aford, Petra, UTP and RP, other parties in the coalition include Peoples Progressive Movement (PPM) led by Mark Katsonga, Malawi Forum for Unity and Development (Mafunde) with George Nnensa at the helm and Assembly for Democracy and Development (ADD) of former vice-president Cassim Chilumpha.