Political parties outside the Blue Alliance have said they have no regrets not joining forces ahead of the September 16 General Election because they also had the potential to compete and assess their capacity.
In separate interviews yesterday, UTM Party, United Democratic Front (UDF), People’s Development Party (PDP) and People’s Party (PP) said having participated in the elections, they will go back to the drawing board and work on rebuilding the respective parties in preparation for 2030.
Prior to the election, the Blue Alliance led by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) called on opposition parties to join them to boost chances of defeating Malawi Congress Party (MCP). However, it was Alliance for Democracy (Aford) and few others which joined hands with DPP.
UTM Party spokesperson Felix Njawala said in an interview yesterday that their vision is to build the party; hence, they needed to contest to check the party’s strength.
He said the party will continue with the building process and strategise for the 2030 elections.
Said Njawala: “The next election in 2030 is not far from now and our focus will be to get enough numbers for the presidential vote and more members of Parliament [MPs]. UTM competing in the election has also helped to increase the number of members of Parliament.”
Unofficial results show that the UTM Party has eight MPs, up from four in the 2019 election.
Njawala said the party’s MPs block is expected to increase as some independents will align with them, adding that people should also expect UTM Party to sit on the opposition side in Parliament.
“Actually, the impending DPP victory is a win for all opposition parties. UTM Party is celebrating the win. People should not be surprised to see UTM celebrating the victory against Malawi Congress Party, as we were all campaigning against MCP. So, we are happy that as a country we have achieved that,” he said.
In a separate interview, UDF deputy publicity secretary Labana Chilungo said the party, which has won four parliamentary seats based on unofficial results, has learnt some lessons and will now work on rebuilding in preparation for 2030 elections.
“As soon as they announce the winner,we will go on the ground encouraging our members, establishing areas and branches so that they should be very strong in readiness for 2030,” he said.
Chilungo could not say if the party will work with government in Parliament, saying they will need to wait until such a time to make a decision comes.
PDP spokesperson Rhodes Msonkho also said the party will go back to the drawing board to strategise for future elections.
On his part, PP spokesperson Ackson Kalaile Banda said the party does not regret not being part of the grand alliance.
Unofficial results show that PP has won three parliamentary seats.
“We had our vision. We also had alliance partners, but things have gone the way they have,” said Kalaile Banda.
Prior to the elections, political analysts had advised parties to form alliances and agree on terms so that they are able to work together when they take over gover
