Alliance for Democracy (Aford) has said its members that are endorsing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) president Peter Mutharika as a torchbearer in the 2025 General Elections are doing so in their personal capacity.
Aford senior members have of late been seen attending DPP political rallies and some have been endorsing Mutharika as presidential candidate in next year’s elections.
However, in an interview, Aford spokesperson Annie Amatullah Maluwa said the party has not decided on who to go into an alliance with in the forthcoming elections.
She said Aford is on good terms with all opposition parties as their goal is one; hence, they can partner with anyone.
Said Maluwa: “The members can make their wishes, but we are waiting for the top national executive committee [NEC] members to put an alliance committee that will be dealing with all political parties that wish to have an alliance with Aford.
“We are just waiting for the final say on which political parties we are going into alliance with. When the time comes, we will make the final decision.”
According to Maluwa the party hopes that it will be represented on the ballot.
But in a separate interview, political analyst Joseph Chunga doubted that the members are making the endorsements on their own, saying those that have been involved are not ordinary members but people with positions at national level.
He said the party could just be trying to ensure that the decisions are endorsed by appropriate legal structures within the party.
“It is not something that the party can easily dismiss, saying these are individual sentiments. It signals some kind of conversation at that level,” said Chunga.
He added that Aford could also be bargaining the terms of the alliance.
“Otherwise, it is not that individuals are expressing their views. That wouldn’t really make sense considering the levels of people that have been seen attending DPP rallies and indeed expressing such sentiments,” said Chunga.
On his part, political analyst Chrispin Mphande said there are chances that Aford, as a party, is encouraging the members to gauge people’s reactions.
“All these parties know that the two big parties are MCP and DPP. Now parties are strategic, they know that no party can win on its own, the 50+1, so they are trying to test the waters on where they should side,” he observed.
However, Mphande said it is also possible that the members are supporting DPP on their own so that they should be considered for positions in the event that the DPP wins.
In the 2019 Tripartite Elections, Aford partnered with UTM Party which later became part of the Tonse Alliance in the 2020 Presidential Election.
