Controversy continues to reign supreme in party primaries to identify candidates for parliamentary and local government elections ahead of the September 16 General Election.
United Democratic Front (UDF) has since suspended its primaries with immediate effect to ensure order while governing Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are grappling with challenges in some areas, mostly bordering on differences over electoral colleges.
In a statement dated April 17 2025 signed by secretary general Genarino Lemani, UDF said the party’s president Atupele Muluzi, in consultation with the chairperson of the Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Committee, made the decision in the interest of maintaining unity, order and strategic focus during the campaign.
And in an interview on Sunday, UDF spokesperson Dyson Jangia said all the primary elections that have been concluded in some area will stand.
He said the party noted that there were disagreements on the areas in most constituencies and wants the secretariat to revisit them.
In Nkhotakota Central Constituency, MCP aspirants are also embroiled in controversy with hopeful Susan Kakota Namangale alleging that some constituency leadership favour certain candidates.
She said: “It seems it’s a general problem that some MCP leaders at constituency level are not giving all candidates equal opportunity.”
Similarly, a video clip of the incumbent Kasungu East legislator Madalitso Kazombo, who is also First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, went viral on social media indicating that some constituency areas and delegates were manipulated.
“We were surprised to note old areas such as Mchezi that was established in 1970 and Libvezi being removed from the records,” he said in a prayer.
But an MCP insider said the situation in Kasungu East was corrected after it transpired that some local leaders had produced a different list of voters.
The disagreement in the electoral colleges and delegates also forced aspiring MCP MP for Salima Central James Manyetera to pullout from the primaries.
In an interview on Sunday, MCP deputy secretary general Gerald Kazembe acknowledged that his party’s primary elections have been marred with disputes in some constituencies.
However, he said that most of the disputes are not reported to the party’s executive as MCP encourages addressing disputes at local level.
Commenting on the matter, political commentator Victor Chipofya noted that the continued disagreement in primary elections is an indication of lack of intraparty democracy.
Earlier this month, DPP director of elections Jean Mathanga indicated that the primary polls first phase generally started on a good note, but in Nkhata Bay Chintheche Constituency they were postponed due to disagreements over delegates.
