Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) former chairperson Jane Ansah has conceded defeat in the Ntcheu North East Constituency prima-ries where she sought a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) parlia-mentary ticket.
The retired Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal judge lost to the ar-ea’s former legislator Everton Chimulirenji.
But while suspecting that the voters could have been influenced by handouts, Ansah said she was now pondering on her next move.
She said: “The result is there and things did not go the way I ex-pected. I will sit down and think about my next move and that in-cludes whether to lodge a formal complaint or not.”
On Saturday, DPP also conducted primaries in other constituencies in Ntcheu and Mangochi districts.
Speaking in an interview on Sunday, DPP director of elections Jean Mathanga said the elections went on well except in one constituency where candidates could not agree on the electoral college.
“We are going back to the constituency on Tuesday to conduct the polls,” she said.
On Sunday, the DPP was set to conduct elections in Machinga and other parts of Mangochi while today the former governing party will conduct primaries in Balaka and Zomba.
During the weekend, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), a key member of the disintegrated governing Tonse Alliance, was ex-pected to conduct by-elections in Mzimba.
But the party’s deputy secretary general Gerald Kazembe said in an interview on Sunday that the elections were rescheduled and would be conducted from Wednesday, April 16 2025.
MCP has been holding primaries since February this year.
Some of the aspirants set to represent the MCP in the 2025 General Elections include Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Simplex Chithyola Banda in Kasungu South, Alexander Kusamba Dzonzi for Dowa West and Office of the President and Cabinet spokesperson Robert Kalindiza in Dedza Golomoti.
Others are Lilongwe City Mayor Esther Sagawa who will contest in Lilongwe Chilala-Nafisi and journalist Wisdom Chimgwede in Kasungu Municipality.
The party, however, nullified results in Dowa Ngala, Lilongwe Dzenza and Nkhotakota Mkhula following irregularities, according to communication party secretary general Richard Chimwendo Ban-da released on March 5 2025.
The United Democratic Front has also been conducting primaries in constituencies where it has more than one aspirant.
UDF Eastern Region governor Kennedy Kuntenga won in Zomba Malosa, former publicity secretary Ken Ndanga has won in Balaka Rivirivi and Tulinje Muluzi triumphed in Machinga Likwenu.
Perceptions of manipulation and favouritism in the conduct of pri-maries have over the years led to losing candidates going solo.
The trend has seen the growth of independent legislators in the 193-seat National Assembly from zero in the first post-independence multiparty general elections in May 1994 to 33 in 2009, 52 in 2014 and 55 in 2019.
