My Guess In 2019 Running Mates Where Will A Muslim Vote Go?

although there has not been any official communication on possible candidates who will pair with who in the 2019 tripartite elections from a number of parties including the United Democratic Front (UDF), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Peoples’ Party (PP), Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) and United Transformation Movement (UTM), my guess just like that of many of you is that there will be a ballot marriage between the Ruling DPP and UDF and another marriage between Transformation Alliance Movement and People’s Party which has formed alliance with some other parties because of a number of reasons.
Firstly, although choosing a running mate is a prerogative of a torch-bearer of the party who is also in most cases the president of the party who chooses his or her running mate at the very last moment leaving no room for arguments. This will also happen when Peter Mutharika leader of the party may happen to choose Atupele Muluzi as his running-mate just because Muluzi has a number of qualities which Peter would like to be associated with, among them are: Muluzi has remained loyal to the DPP leader despite other party members feeding bad and unfounded information relating to the relationship of the two leaders.

Muluzi is also likely to be picked as Peter’s running mate because he has two types of followers, Muslim voters who are mostly from the southern and eastern regions the home of his father as well as non-Muslims who are from the central region where his mother comes from.

The other marriage that Malawians are expecting to see is the marriage ballot between the former president Joyce Banda with her alliance and the Transformation Movement of Saulosi Chilima.

With the above suggestions, it is hoped that the 2019 tripartite elections will have high competitions as well as expectations. However in this entire situation where will Muslims go? Will Muslims go for Atupele Muluzi and Uladi Mussa if the UDF/DPP marriage materialists? In case UDF goes alone and Atupele Muluzi will be the only Muslim candidate, will Muslims go for a Muslim presidential candidate or they would rather go for other parties where Muslims are either running mates or mere party members? Or Will Muslims go for Muhammad Sidik Mia under the MCP? Or will they leave their Muslim candidates and go for Joyce Banda/Chilima who is not a Muslim but has a traditional Yao roots as voting through tribes is taking shape in Malawi politics? Or will they follow Assembly for Democracy and Development leader, a devoted Muslim Dr. Cassim Chilumpha whether in alliance or not?