Blantyre City Soche-Zingwangwa legislator Penjani Kalua (UTM Party) has revived calls for legislation to regulate political parties’ electoral coalitions to make them legally binding amid concerns on their instability under the 50-percent-plus-one voting system.
In proposing a law to formalise and enforce political alliances, the legislator argues that the constitutional requirement for a presidential candidate to secure a 50-percent-plus-one majority makes electoral alliances inevitable.
However, Kalua noted that lack of a legal framework leaves the alliances fragile and prone to collapse.
“For someone to be elected as president, you need a 50-plus-one vote margin. Producing a clear winner without an alliance may not always be possible,” he said.
In 2020, the court-sanctioned fresh presidential election ushered in the Tonse Alliance government led by former president Lazarus Chakwera, but the coalition disintegrated. During the September 16 2025 General Election, President Peter Mutharika, then an opposition leader, secured victory under a looser coalition arrangement with Alliance for Democracy (Aford).
Kalua said the lack of enforceable rules has led to mistrust and disintegration of alliances once power dynamics shift.
“That was an alliance of utmost good faith. It was meant to last, but politics crept in,” he said, referring to the Tonse Alliance in which his party, UTM was a key partner alongside Malawi Congress Party (MCP).
He proposed a legal framework to transform alliances from temporary electoral vehicles into structured governance arrangements anchored in shared manifestos and enforceable commitments.
But governance experts have cautioned that while binding alliances could enhance stability, they also raise concerns about transparency and democratic accountability.
In an interview, lawyer Justin Dzonzi noted that the Constitution does not recognise electoral alliances beyond freedom of association, meaning that they remain governed by private contract law.
“Contract principles cannot override state power,” he said, warning that such arrangements cannot be elevated to constitutional enforcement.
Centre for Multiparty Democracy executive director Boniface Chibwana said while enforceable coalitions could help parties honour commitments but warned against opaque agreements.
On his part, political scientist George Chaima said such a law could improve cooperation, though it may not fully resolve political fragmentation.
The Tonse Alliance disintegrated amid assertions from other partners, including UTM Party led by then vice-president Saulos Chilima, who died in a June 10 2024 military plane crash alongside eight others, that MCP was ignoring alliance agreements.
However, MCP officials insisted that the agreement, especially on the purported rotating presidency between Chakwera and Chilima, did not exist in the party’s structure.
