DPP’s election chief says Mutharika re-election certain: Ben Phiri backs Chimulirenji as credible choice of a running mate

The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) elections director Ben Phiri has the party is pulling in one direction to ensure a successful campaign for the May 21 Tripartite Elections.

Phiri, the ‘campaigner-in-chief’ of the DPP, said the prospects for a landslide victory for Mutharika are high and that his pick of Everton Chimulirenji, a member of Parliament for Ntcheu North East Constituency, is a sure guarantee for re-election.

There were reports that the pick of Chimulirenji, 56, who is also part of Mutharika’s Cabinet, serving as Minister of Civic Education, Culture and Community Development, had not pleased some top brass of the DPP.

But Phiri said Chimulirenji who served as deputy minister for Defence before the latest Cabinet reshuffle took him to his present portfolio, has been well received by the party.

“There are no problems at all in DPP. In fact we are much more gelled to win the elections,” Phiri said in an interview with Rainbow TV monitored by Nyasa Times.

He backed Mutharika’s choice by picking a running mate from Ntcheu in the central region.

“It could not have been possible for Mutharika to pick me as someone from Thyolo or Hon Kondwani Nankhumwa (from the Lhomwe belt). The President proved that he shares the cake with other regions and tribes hence the choice of Chimulirenji is the best so far,” said Phiri.

Reacting to what people are saying that the choice of Chimulirenji has weakened DPP, Phiri said that was not true.

“People don’t vote for the running mate people vote the party and its torchbearer,” he said.

DPP senior members have been holding meetings across the country aimed at asking people to support Chimulirenji as the best choice for President Mutharika to be the second-in-command.

When he unveiled his running mate during the presentation of his nomination papers to the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC)   in Blantyre, Mutharika described Chimulirenji as someone loyal to the party.

He also made clear the role his running mate will be playing should they win the May election when he said Chimulirenji “knows the difference between a vice-president and a deputy president.”

With the opposition fragmented and a first-past-the-post election system that awards the presidency to the candidate who gets a plurality of votes, Mutharika is the frontrunner to win the May vote.