Parties Without Mps Wary
Some political parties which failed to send representatives to Parliament in the May 19 general elections have warned the newly sworn in Members of Parliament never to present issues that are aimed at appeasing their political parties but rather focus at constituency stratum.
About 16 political parties took part in the May 19 Parliamentary elections and only six succeeded to have MPs elected on their tickets.
United Democratic Front (UDF), Mafunde, Aford, Malavi People’s Party (MPP) Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are the parties that have representatives in Parliament with the later having the largest number at 113 Members of Parliament.
Among the parties that have failed to have representatives in Parliament are Petra, NARC, RP, NRP, code and Conu.
Petra president Kamuzu Chibambo said as a party they are not worried on how the grievances of his party's supporters will get to parliament because in almost all the constituencies there is one elected member who is supposed to represent all people from that constituency.
"For every level headed parliamentarian, they will be taking concerns of the constituency and not those of a party. We expect them to focus on the constituency as a whole,” he said.
Chibambo said as a party they will be using the elected MPs from each constituency to get their concerned aired in parliament.
Petra had one representative in the previous parliament but failed to secure any this year out of the 13 aspiring candidates that stood on its ticket including the party’s presidential candidate Kamuzu Chibambo.
The Petra leader said his party will be informing the nation on the party’s way forward.
"We cannot just talk now, it is an issue which needs balanced thinking. It is a dream we have and dreams have a long time effect. As a party we are looking at how best we can move forward.” Chibambo said.
PPM president Mark Katsonga whose party had representatives in the previous Parliament but has failed to register any this time around said as a party they will rely on the elected MPs because when in Parliament the MPs will be representing a constituency and not a political party.
He said his party will work with government and at the same time it will be providing checks ad balances.
He said where PPM feels the government is not doing what the people expect of them the party will speak out.
As a way forward he said PPM will continue to work as a political party while strategizing for the next general elections.
New Rainball Coalition (NARC) president Loveness Gondwe said it is unfortunate that her party does not have representatives in Parliament.
She said the development leaves her wonder as to how grievances of her party supporters will be presented to the honourable House.
“We hope NARC will be recognized as a party and when we speak out using any available forum we will be heard,” she said.
Gondwe said NARC focus now will be towards the 2014 elections.
“We will continue to operate as a political party and we hope come 2014 a better thing will come for us," she said.
More than 35 aspiring candidate stood on NARC party ticket but none made it including the party’s presidential candidate Loveness Gondwe.
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