DPP-UDF certain of Mutharika’s unassailable victory — Ben Phiri

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) director of elections, Ben Phiri, says his party which is in an electoral alliance with United Democratic Front (UDF) is certain of winning the fresh presidential election in a free and transparent manner because they have the right strategies to convert crowds into voters for President Peter Mutharika.

In an  interview monitored by Nyasa Times on Times Radio  with host Brian Banda,  Phiri was filled with confidence about the outcome of the vote.

“We are geared to win the elections again because we know how to do it. Other parties fail to convert the so called crowds that grace their rallies while we in the DPP  know how to engage voters,” he said.

Phiri reminded that since DPP was formed in 2005 it has never lost any Presidential election.

Commenting on the recent opinion poll by Institute of Public Opinion and Research (IPOR) that said President Mutharika is likely to trail Tonse Alliance torchbearer Lazarus Chakwera, Phiri questioned the criteria used to arrive at such a conclusion, saying the statistics are doctored.

“First, we have to question how they chose who to interview and where exactly did they go to conduct their survey. There is a huge disparity of perception between people in urban and rural localities.

“We  will win,  the DPP understand what locals are looking for and we are the only party that has answers to their problems,” he said.

The Local Government and Rural Development Minister also rubbished rumours that President Mutharika and others are afraid of elections.

“No one in our camp is afraid of elections. We are more than ready for elections but what we are saying is that, there should be no repeat of the irregularities that led to the nullification of last year’s poll. This is why we have been pushing in Parliament to get all relevant bills deliberated and passed so that we normalize all electoral laws,” said Phiri.

He added: “The opposition is trying to block the normal way of doing things yet they are the same who run to courts claiming irregularities. This time they themselves are already allowing irregularities to creep into the electoral system which is very unfortunate.”

Malawi will hold the court-ordered fresh presidential election on June 23.

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