The very tense campaign for the presidential election on July 2 turns to drama in Malawi. Three activists from one of the main opposition parties were killed and three others seriously injured in the arson attack on the premises of their movement in the capital Lilongwe. The three dead, members of the same family, were members of the United Movement for Transformation (UTM) of the current vice-president Saulos Chilima, at odds with President Peter Mutharika.
The victims are a mother and two children
The victims slept overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday in their home in the capital, which houses UTM premises, when unidentified people threw incendiary devices, reported party campaign director Lucius Banda. The mother and two children in the family died, while the father and two other family members "are between life and death," he added. Police spokesman James Kadadzera confirmed the facts but said he had no information on the perpetrators at the moment.
This violence therefore comes three months before the presidential election which must be replayed after the cancellation for fraud of the re-election in May 2019 of the outgoing head of state. In power since 2014, 79-year-old Peter Mutharika was re-elected for a second term on the first ballot. He had been credited by the local electoral commission (MEC) with 38.5% of the vote, against 35.4% for the leader of the opposition Lazarus Chakwera. But seized by the opposition, the Constitutional Court canceled in February 2020 the victory of the outgoing because of characterized frauds and ordered a new ballot.
The international community calls for calm
Supported by the Saoulos Chilima UTM, Lazarus Chakwera will once again oppose Peter Mutharika. The two rivals filed their candidatures on Wednesday and Thursday before the Election Commission. The ambassadors of the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom called for calm and "hoped that all the violence would be the subject of transparent investigations so that the perpetrators could be brought to justice".
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