UTM Party president Dalitso Kabambe says his party plans to hold primaries to identify parliamentary and local government within five days candidates.
The former Reserve Bank of Malawi governor insisted in an interview on Wednesday that the five days was enough as the party has done its homework. There are 229 constituencies and about 500 wards.
In contrast, other major political parties represented in Parliament such as Malawi Congress Party, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and United Democratic Front (UDF) have taken more time than planned to conclude primaries due to disputes.
But Kabambe sounded certain that their plan is workable, adding that their primary elections will produce some of the brightest minds.
He said: “I can confirm in affirmative that our primary elections will be held from 1st to 5th June 2025 and that all processes leading to the same are well underway.
“I can also confirm that the people that are going to represent the party at the forthcoming general elections are some of the best and brightest Malawians one can come across.”
Kabambe said while every party member has an opportunity to compete, there is deliberate emphasis on merit and capabilities to have a crop which can meaningfully contribute to the vision of the party.
In its maiden contest in 2019, UTM, then led by former vice-president the late Saulos Chilima, again surprised many when it announced that it would conduct primaries in a day nationwide but it ended up to be a costly experiment as they failed to take place in some constituencies.
In a telephone interview on Wednesday, political scientist Ernest Thindwa cast doubt on the practicality of holding primaries within the stated time-frame.
He said it may be doable if the exercise will be conducted by an independent body and not party officials as some may be candidates elsewhere.
“I think the UTM is being overly ambitious,” argued Thindwa.
He further contended that the UTM may not really attract disputes as is the case in MCP and DPP for lack of a stronghold.
According to an earlier statement, UTM candidates are expected to pay K300 000 for male and K150 000 for female members or marginalised groups vying for parliamentary positions. For ward councillors the fee is K100 000 for male and K50 000 for female or marginalised group.
Meanwhile, Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has announced that collection of nomination papers for aspirants in the September 16 General Election will start on June 10 2025.
In a statement dated May 26 2025, MEC chief elections officer Andrew Mpesi also said all parliamentary and local government elections candidates will collect their nomination papers from council offices in their respective districts while presidential hopefuls will collect from the commission’s head office in Lilongwe.
According to the electoral calendar, MEC will close receiving of nomination fees and collection of nomination papers on July 2 2025.
The announcement comes at a time some political parties are yet to finalise or start primaries to identify their candidates for the parliamentary and local government elections.
