Chakwera tipped to lead MCP-UTM alliance for Malawi fresh polls

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) presidential hopeful Lazarus Chakwera will likely lead the opposition  ‘grand alliance’ in the forthcoming  fresh presidential elections, according to political analyst at Chancellor College of the University of Malawi , Happy Kayuni.

During the signing  of  an agreement on the electoral alliance  MCP and UTM Party of State vice-president Saulos Chilima  which they have formed in preparation for fresh presidential election, both

Chakwera and Chilima  did not diclosed who will be the torchbearer for the alliance.

But  Kayuni said Chakwera will likely lead the alliance in the poll because of the popularity of his MCP over UTM Party, which is less than two years old since its formation.

During the event at Kamuzu Institute for Sports,  Chilima spoke first before asking Chakwera to do so.

Ideally protocol requires that the main person at an event speaks last. In political party set-up, the president is the last one to speak.

“I do not want to read into protocol but studies that we have done before show that MCP is more popular than UTM; hence, the most likely candidate to lead the alliance is Chakwera,” said Kayuni in quotes reported by The Nation newspaper on Friday.

Kayuni said the MCP-UTM alliance withheld the torchbearer and runningmate now “to avoid antagonising some supporters who with time will get used to the arrangement.”

Speaking at the signing ceremony,  Chilima said the alliance does not mark the end of the involved parties.

“Our coming together does not mean the parties in this coalition have come to an end, no,” said Chilima, adding “ We have decided to unite and bring together all our strengths and capabilities to rescue this country from those destroying it. We want to change things in many areas.”

On his part,  Chakwera assured the audience that “this is their alliance”; hence, those that need change have the alliance to embrace.

Said Chakwera: “This is your alliance. However know that the change you require won’t be given to you on a silver platter. You will have to demand it, so demand it and make sure that you get.”

Other parties that were represented at the event included Malawi Forum for Unity and Development (Mafunde), Alliance for Democracy (Aford), Freedom Party, Umodzi Party and People’s Transformation Alliance (Petra).