The Tribune (Blantyre)
Jimmy Kananji
30 December 2008
Prominent Lilongwe based business magnet cum politician Iqbar Omar has predicted United Democratic Front (UDF) victory in next year’s general elections.
He was commenting on his election in absentia as a UDF parliamentary candidate for Lilongwe City South West.
Omar popularly known as Mthandizi, because of his charity works, said UDF is the strongest national party with detailed structures in all the districts.
"If you follow the history of elections in the country, UDF has always been represented in all regions of the country. This shows the strength the party has," said Omar.
"I am very optimistic that UDF under the leadership of Bakili Muluzi and with the support of alliance partners will emerge victors."
Omar who once served in Muluzi cabinet said because of the party’s national representation it has advantage over other parties who depend on one region as their strongholds.
However, Omar could not say if he will heed the call from Lilongwe South West to stand as their candidate saying he first has to sort out some personal problems before committing himself.
He, however, hailed the people in the constituency for their faith in him and he urged them to continue supporting their party and its leadership for the party to fulfill its objectives.
"I thank all those who voted for me in my absence. This shows that people have confidence in me and I will announce my position soon after ironing out some personal problems," added Omar.
Hinting on his acceptance, Omar said if given another chance in representing the constituency in Parliament he will concentrate much on areas of health, education and safe drinking water in order to uplift the living standards of the constituents.
Omar’s prediction comes after UDF alliance candidate Bakili Muluzi has been named as a front runner in the next May presidential race.
The opinions polls and researches have shown that Muluzi will win the presidential elections although he will not secure 50 percent of the total votes.
The opinion polls show that Muluzi will face main challenge from leader of opposition in Parliament John Tembo while incumbent Bingu wa Mutharika is placed on a distant third position.
A research analysis by a post graduate student in Political Science at the University of the Western Cape, in South Africa, Felix Benson Lombe indicates Muluzi tops the chart of presidential candidates.
The analysis complimented by another report published in the last edition of this publication says findings based on regional political patronage, a scrutiny of party structures, substantive data obtained from key informant surveys, group interviews, political literature, reviews, observations of past voting pattern and quantitative data interpretation shows that if political trends remain unchanged, Muluzi will win the elections with about 2.3 million votes.
The Tribune reported that Tembo will come second in the polls with about 1.9 million votes to be polled and President Mutharika, third placed, will scoop about 1.2 million votes.
Other presidential contenders will share 0.5 million votes and 0.1 is likely to be null and void votes.
Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) is projecting to have about six million voters for the forthcoming general elections.
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It has come to my knowledge that the tribune is the mouth piece of UDF. You see the truth and you avoid it. DPP is the only national party in MAlawi having supporters in all the regions. Bingu is winning with the majoring vote and many MPs. Tell me why is UDF afraid of primaries in constituences where there are sitting MPs? Its a sign that these so called Honourables are not popular. Please The Tribute write balanced stories.