Malawi VP Chilima will not seek re-election on ruling party ticket in upcoming elections

The sitting vice president in Malawi will not be the president’s running mate in the next elections, scheduled for May 2019. Malawi’s vice president Saulos Chilima announced this decision at a morning news conference.

Chilima’s statement calls out corruption and nepotism and while he used language of gratitude when talking about sitting president Peter Mutharika, my read of the statement is that he will leave the ruling party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

His statement refers to “united transformational leadership”, which is the theme of an ever-shifting political interest group that to my knowledge has not officially registered as a political party.

While some may read this as a blow to the DPP, if Chilima were to run for the presidency on another — especially a new — party’s ticket, it could further splinter Malawi’s already fragmented opposition.

You can read the English version of Chilima’s statement in full here. (Thanks to my friend and colleague Abdallah Chilungo for sending me the statement, among other interesting things, via WhatsApp.)