Malawi’s President Bakili Muluzi is to step down next year, abandoning attempts to change the constitution to allow him to run for a third five-year term.
In an address to the nation Muluzi said he had endorsed a cabinet proposal for the economic planning minister, Bingu Wa Mutharika, to run as the ruling United Democratic Front candidate.
Pressure within the UDF and the prospect of a bruising political and legal battle helped to persuade Muluzi to abandon power. A bill proposing the constitutional amendment failed to win the required two-thirds majority when introduced in July 2002, and another attempt this year failed after opposition from churches, civil society and donors.
Aid agencies and western diplomats were relieved that Malawi appears set to remain one of Africa’s most peaceful countries.
The unanimous choice of Wa Mutharika was a surprise. One theory was that his political base in the southern tea-growing district of Thyolo would help to neutralise the challenge from the leader of the opposition National Democratic Alliance, Brown Mpinganjira. – Guardian Unlimited Â