National News

Drama at Chakwera primaries

Chakwera (R) with followers behind him during the primaries vote
Chakwera (R) with followers behind him during the primaries vote

There was drama at Malawi Congress Party (MCP) primary elections in Lilongwe North West Constituency on Tuesday when five aspiring candidates, who earlier announced they had pulled out of the race, resurfaced to challenge party  president Lazarus Chakwera.

Chakwera eventually triumphed with 261 votes to become MCP candidate in the parliamentary race for the constituency.

The five said they pulled out with hope that they will contest among each other during by-elections in the constituency when Chakwera wins the national presidency in the 20 May 2014 Tripartite Elections.

However, as people waited for Chakwera to go unopposed at the primaries, the five aspirants plus a newcomer came to challenge him.

Asked why the five candidates changed their earlier decision and challenged Chakwera, MCP’s director of elections Henry Kamata claimed that the five candidates namely  Kanthusi Chimutu, Rexton Mitambo Bondo, Samuel Abalekana, Elesani Zakochera and Bryson Majoni were forced by regional chairperson Daniel Mlomo to do so.

According to Kamata, Mlomo invited the five aspiring MPs to the podium in the presence of Chakwera to introduce them to the people, but he [Mlomo] ended up telling the gathering that the five had pulled out of the race.

But Mlomo denied Kamata’s allegations, saying: “I did not force them to pull out. It was their campaign strategy to respect the party president.”

The five aspiring MPs shunned the media on the issue soon after the primaries.

During the polls, Chimutu got 35 votes while Majoni and Bondo got 13 and nine votes, respectively. Abalekana and Zakochera got three votes each. The sixth aspiring MP Jolex Makhaya got six votes.

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