A renowned political expert has told political parties to release their manifestoes, saying voters need to scrutinize them as the elections are now just under three months.
Phiri: Release the electoral blueprint
George Phiri of Livingstonia University said delays to release the manifestoes might affect voters negatively.
“The delays will affect the voters in that they will have no enough time to go through them ahead of the elections in May. Voters have to go through the manifestoes to make informed minds ahead of the elections,” said Phiri.
But both Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Malawi Congress Party (MCP) spokespersons Nicholas Dausi and Maurice Munthali respectively said they cannot be forced to release the manifestos.
“We will unveil them when we are ready. We should not be forced to release them,” said Dausi.
Some analysts say the major political parties are deliberately withholding the release of the manifestos in order to see their opponent’s first.
Malawi goes to a highly contentious tripartite election on May 21.
