Party vibes, hypes 7 months to election launch

It is seven months to the launch of the 7th round of general elections on September 16 2025, but campaign fever is already high, with parties in campaign style rallies and voter sensitization efforts.

The most active in recent times have been former ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), governing Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and its estranged Tonse Alliance partner Alliance for Democracy (Aford) as they position themselves to get the attention of nearly 11 million people that Malawi Electoral Commission projects could be eligible to vote next year.

On Sunday, for example, the Blantyre-Zomba road was dotted with swarms of people in blue attire, with some carrying maize cobs on bicycles and vehicles.

Others, especially women, balanced the crop, the DPP’s political symbol, on their heads while gyrating hips along the grouping’s convoy of vehicles adorned with drapery of party regalia.

On its part, MCP cocked its head towards Salima in Traditional Authority Chisamba where the party’s director of youth Richard Chimwendo Banda was hitting on themes from President Lazarus Chakwera’s State of the Nation address delivered in Parliament on Friday.

Meanwhile, MCP chief strategist Ken Zikhale Ng’oma was headlining rallies in Machinga right in the backyard of DPP vice president for eastern region Bright Msaka.

The rallies have also seen some senior members of one political party moving to another.

For instance, last Thursday, former MCP publicity secretary Maurice Munthali announced that he had joined Aford, while two weeks ago, former DPP vice president (Centre) Uladi Mussa defected to MCP.

On the other hand, some major political parties such as UTM, United Democratic Front (UDF) and People’s Party (PP) are not visibly seen holding political rallies.

But some say they are playing the ground game and are not prioritising rallies at the moment.

In an interview yesterday, UTM secretary general Patricia Kaliati said this is the right time to engage party supporters at grass root level in readiness for the 2025 election.

She said her party may seem not to be active by holding political rallies, but it is engaging them through other strategies.

Said Kaliati: “As UTM, we are restructuring and we are conducting our meetings on the ground. But we are there and active.”

On whether the party will go solo in the 2025 tripartite elections, she said her grouping will communicate later on its stand, but could not indicate the exact date.

In a separate interview, UDF publicity secretary Yusuf Mwawa also said his party is currently engaging its supporters underground and encourage them to rally behind the party.

He said: “So, we are also reminding them that this is 2024 and encourage our members wherever they are to go and register in their large numbers so that they can vote in 2025. UDF will stand alone and it is going to feature a candidate on the ballot paper.”

Political analyst Ernest Thindwa noted that the recent proliferation of political rallies is an indication that parties are gearing up for the 2025 general elections.

He noted that ideally, political parties—both ruling and opposition—are supposed to be active throughout the electoral cycle, but in Malawi parties usually come when elections are closer.

 “One thing that I fault our political parties is lack of a clear economic and social programme. Yes you may have the manifesto, but there is no clear social economic programme which talks about goals, targets and deliverables.

“Our parties don’t have that, so in most cases, what they promise or what they present are merely slogans without deliverables,” said Thindwa.

On his part another political analyst Victor Chipofya noted that Malawian political parties are always in the campaign mode.