Malawi’s main opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), has endorsed former President Peter Mutharika, 84, as its candidate for the 2025 presidential election. Mutharika, who served as the nation’s leader from 2014 to 2020, has vowed to address the economic challenges facing Malawi, including sluggish growth and currency shortages.
Mutharika will challenge the incumbent President, Lazarus Chakwera, who is seeking a second term. Additionally, Mutharika has indicated plans to form an alliance with the United Transformation Movement, although the party has not yet confirmed this partnership.
In 2020, Mutharika lost his bid for re-election to Chakwera, an anti-corruption advocate. The election was a rerun after the country’s top court annulled the results of the May 2019 election, which had initially declared Mutharika and the DPP as winners.
In 2021, Mutharika accused the current administration of politically motivated prosecution. In August 2020, Malawi’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) froze the personal bank accounts of Mutharika and his wife, Gertrude, as part of an investigation into a 5-billion kwacha ($6.6 million) cement scandal.
(AP)
