LILONGWE, Malawi
Malawi's former president, Peter Mutharika, has been chosen to lead the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) into next year's presidential election.
It marks a comeback for the
84-year-old, who governed Malawi for six years and later suggested he would not
run for office again.
He surprised many with a
change of heart, saying recently that his supporters want him to save the
country from being ruined by President Lazarus Chakwera.
Mr Mutharika lost to Mr
Chakwera in 2020, in a re-run that was ordered by the country's Constitutional
Court after it annulled the previous year's election.
Judges had ruled that there
was widespread tampering in the 2019 vote, including the use of Tipp-Ex
correction fluid on ballot papers, and that Mr Mutharika's declared victory in
that poll was void.
Malawi's
judiciary were praised for their bravery in refusing to accept a
second-rate election, and the political fallout in the former president's party
has been ugly.
Following a period of internal
squabbling, the DPP has expelled several members including those who wanted to
challenge Mr Mutharika for the party presidency, paving the way for him to be
re-elected party leader unopposed.
Monday's announcement that he
had won the official endorsement of his party as its presidential candidate was
largely a formality.
This means Mr Mutharika and Mr
Chakwera will square off against each other at the polls for the third time,
each having won and lost once in the past.
Mr Mutharika told party
supporters he was ready to regain power "to remove an incompetent
government which sees nothing, hears nothing and does nothing".
He appears to enjoy the solid
support of his party, but critics say it should have identified a younger, more
energetic leader as its torchbearer in next year’s polls.
His rival, the incumbent Mr
Chakwera, is 15 years his junior.
President Chakwera came into
office promising "to clear the rubble of corruption", to create a
million jobs for the unemployed youth and to ensure food security so that all
Malawians have three meals a day.
His government admits it has
found it hard to deliver on those campaign promises, but blames that on
Covid-19 at the start of its term of office, natural disasters such as cyclones
and the economic downturn caused by the war in Ukraine.
Government officials,
including Information Minister Moses Kunkuyu, have repeatedly said, even with
these difficulties, the present administration has outperformed its
predecessors by creating systems that make it hard for corruption to flourish.
Successes include the
reintroduction of train services in Malawi for the first time in over three
decades, helping to reduce the cost of transporting goods. Major road
construction is also under way, particularly in the capital, Lilongwe.
The ruling Malawi Congress
Party (MCP) will have to defend that record at the polls, and could yet make
age a key campaign issue - questioning whether former President Mutharika has
both the physical strength and mental capacity to govern once more.
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