Malawi ex-president to contest in 2025 elections

LILONGWE, Malawi

Malawi's former president Peter Mutharika has publicly announced his candidacy in the country's 2025 presidential elections.

Mutharika, who turns 84 in July, disclosed his ambition for the top seat at his first political rally held in the commercial city of Blantyre on Sunday, since he was ousted by Malawi Congress Party's (MCP) Lazarus Chakwera in August 2020.

Mutharika said his decision followed "Malawians' outcry" for his comeback to "rescue the country from the mess it is in", adding that when he bounces back, his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government will recover the country's economy in two years' time.

Mutharika's public political appearance came a few weeks after the party's vice president in the south, Kondwani Nankhumwa, formed his own political grouping called People's Development Party, months after he was expelled from Mutharica's DPP.

Local analysts have expressed mixed views, with some applauding Mutharika's comeback and others saying he poses no threat to the ruling MCP.

Mutharika ruled Malawi, the Sub-Saharan least developed country, from 2014 to 2020.

Mutharika's second-term win in 2019 was successfully challenged in court by the opposition, and the country went to the polls again in 2020 to usher in an alliance government led by MCP's Lazarus Chakwera.

As the 2025 elections approach, political parties in the country are adjusting and aligning themselves into positions ready for a rigorous campaign ahead of the polls.