By Pemphero Malimba:
Africa-Press – Malawi. The opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) has said it will resume conducting primary elections in wards and constituencies across the country.
The party announced this in a statement signed by its secretary general Genarino Lemani.
Lemani said the development follows a directive from the party’s leadership.
“United Democratic Front president Atupele Muluzi, in consultation with the chairperson Lilian Patel, has directed that the Parliamentary and Local Elections Committee of the UDF party should resume conducting primary elections in all outstanding constituencies and regions with immediate effect,” he said.
He said all aspiring candidates were free to start campaigning for positions.
“The regional, district, constituency, ward and area committees are expected to put things in order to ensure smooth elections. A party leader or member who by their conduct disrupts the peaceful conduct of the primary election shall be disciplined accordingly,” he said.
He said the party was committed to conducting free and fair elections.
“The UDF is determined to hold transparent, fair, peaceful and credible party elections,” he said.
The party suspended the elections last month after it had commenced the first phase of the elections in some parts of the Eastern Region.
Following the suspension, the party’s national publicity secretary Dyson Jangia told The Daily Times that the party had suspended the elections to address concerns raised during the first phase of the elections.
“We want to consolidate issues to do with the party structures on who are supposed to vote during the primary elections. Currently, there have been disagreements regarding who is supposed to vote and, as such, we want to sort out all those issues so that there should be no conflict when conducting these elections,” Jangia said.
Political analyst George Chaima recently challenged political parties to expedite processes of conducting primary elections.
Chaima argued that the parties had inadequate time to hold primary elections and campaign for candidates.
The governing Malawi Congress Party and opposition Democratic Progressive Party were the first parties to hold primary elections in the run up to the September 16, 2025 Local Government, Parliamentary and Presidential Elections.
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