By Chisomo Phiri
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has announced that its leader, Peter Mutharika, will start holding campaign rallies in different parts of the country at the end of this week.
Although the official campaign period started earlier this month, Mutharika has so far not been personally involved in the rallies that other party leaders have been holding across the country.
In an interview with 247 Malawi News,DPP spokesperson Shadric Namalomba, who also speaks on behalf of Mutharika, said the former president will begin his rallies in the Northern Region this coming weekend.
“We will release the full program of all the rallies by today,” said Namalomba.
Recently, questions have been raised about why Mutharika has not been holding political rallies while leaders of other parties have been actively engaging the public.
In a separate interview, political commentator George Chaima observed that although opinion polls have suggested Mutharika as the frontrunner in this year’s presidential race, it is still not right for him to avoid holding rallies, arguing that such gatherings are crucial for strengthening people’s confidence in their leader.
On his part, another political analyst, Wonderful Mkhutche, said Mutharika’s delay in launching campaign rallies was not unusual, noting that even in previous elections he did not hold many rallies.
However, he stressed that conducting rallies during campaign periods is important as they give people the opportunity to understand their leader’s policies and make informed decisions about whom to vote for.
Mutharika and his DPP got booted out of government in a court sanctioned presidential poll in June 2020.
