Malawi will at midnight tomorrow join the world in ushering in a New Year 2026 with the country’s political parties represented in Parliament agreeing that 2025 was a mixed bag of gains, heartbreaks and hard lessons.
Representatives of the parties expressed the sentiments in separate interviews yesterday.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) secretary general Peter Mukhito described the year 2025 as successful for the party with victory in the September 16 2025 General Election.
He said DPP’s highest moment came when President Peter Mutharika, who Malawians had voted out in the court-sanctioned June 23 2020 Fresh Presidential Election, accepted a request from the party’s leadership to lead the grouping in the elections.
“There was no one who could have stopped former president Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party [MCP] apart from him [Mutharika],” said Mukhito, who is also Minister of Homeland Security.
But he said the road to victory was not without turbulence and mentioned the period when Malawi Electoral Commission rejected its proposal to conduct an independent audit of its Election Management System as the lowest moment that stirred frustration.
Looking into 2026, Mukhito said DPP was geared to focus on revamping the economy.
In a separate interview, MCP publicity secretary Jessie Kabwila described the year as the most painful after losing control of government.
But she said MCP still registered notable successes, particularly in infrastructure development, pointing to the upgrading of some major roads as one of the party’s key achievements.
Said Kabwila: “For us, 2025 will remain painful because that is the year we lost government. But it is also the year Malawians have seen that there can never be a better Malawi as long as it’s not the Malawi Congress Party in power.”
She said MCP plans to work closely with independent MPs in 2026 and beyond to strengthen its role as the main opposition party and provide effective checks on government for the benefit of Malawians.
UTM Party publicity secretary Felix Njawala also described 2025 as one of mixed outcomes.
He said one of the party’s key successes was maintaining its relevance and organisational stability after the death of the party’s former leader Saulos Chilima in a military plane crash in June 2024 that also killed eight others.
Chilima was also the country’s Vice-President at the time of his death.
But Njawala said the results of the 2025 general election were a major disappointment, as despite campaigning aggressively across the country, the outcome, particularly in the presidential vote, fell short of expectations.
He said: “So, looking at our performance at the just passed election, we have engaged a certain research organisation to establish what really happened, what can be done as a political party and how we can grow our numbers to ensure that whatever we are doing is data based. What we want is to contribute to the development of the country.”
People’s Party publicity secretary Ackson Kalaile Banda said the organisation is conducting a post-mortem of its 2025 performance and will issue a comprehensive statement once the process is complete.
Meanwhile, political observers have described the parties’ self-examination as both timely and necessary.
University of Malawi assistant lecturer Kohnemie M’meta said the end of year is ideal for parties to conduct data-based post-mortems to inform future strategies.
Salima-based political commentator George Phiri echoed the sentiments, urging parties to accept the election results and focus on development.
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