MCP, PP dismiss forecast backing Mutharika to win 2019: ‘It will be miracle victory’

The main opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and People’s Party (PP) have dismissed a forecast by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) of The Economist magazine which says President Peter Mutharika is likely going to have an edge over the opposition in 2019 elections.

The EIU—in its 2016 first quarter forecast report for Malawi generated on May 30 2017—sees MCP leader Lazarus Chakwera as Mutharika’s biggest threat with his anti-corruption platform but expect Mutharika to win.

Chakwera came a close second to Mutharika in the 2014 presidential race in which he swept the Central Region vote while it was the populous Southern Region vote that propelled the incumbent President to victory.

Reacting to the forecast by EIU, an internationally acclaimed risk and forecast think-tank, MCP deputy secretary general Eisenhower Mkaka in an interview on Wednesday said with the performance of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in service delivery and worsening corruption, it will be “a miracle” to win hearts of Malawians to vote them back in power.

“But in the state the country is in, I doubt even God would be willing to perform a miracle for DPP,” Mkaka told Nyasa Times.

Mkaka said: “MCP will not be moved by this forecast. It’s unfounded.”

He also dismissed that MCP is fragmented, saying they will go to 2019 elections a strong force.

PP acting president Uladi Mussa said it is laughable for DPP to bank on the forecast.

“DPP should not take Malawians for granted. This forecast is non issue, the Malawian voter will speak through the ballot and you will hear them in 2019,” Mussa said.

Mussa said the findings were “deliberately cooked” to blackmail Malawians because it doesn’t reflect the reality on the ground.

He said that ‘statistically speaking’ the findings were not credible and the methodology used is questionable.