Concerns over attempts to "weaken" opposition

Malawi's civil society has expressed concern over "efforts to weaken alternative, independent voices" in the country. The ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) announced a merger with the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA), one of its fiercest critics, on Friday. Collins Magalasi, national co-ordinator of a coalition of NGOs, the Malawi Economic Justice Network, said he was "quite disappointed and frustrated" with the decision by Brown Mpinganjira, the NDA leader, to merge. "Mpinganjira had fought independently against the UDF for the past five years. Now we have no system of checks and balances in politics any more - people don't have a political alternative," Magalasi noted. The NDA came fourth in the recent general elections. A former member of the UDF, Mpinganjira was sacked over alleged corruption and founded the NDA in 2001 to campaign against then president Bakili Muluzi's attempts to amend the constitution to allow him to stand for a third term. The NDA joins the Republican Party and the Movement for Genuine Democratic Change, who withdrew a legal petition challenging the results of the controversial 20 May poll and accepted berths in the new government, led by the UDF's Bingu wa Mutharika. News agencies quoted Muluzi, who announced the merger, as saying: "The idea to merge is meant to enhance unity and love among Malawians, and change the focus from politics to national development." The UDF's merger with the NDA will give it a simple working majority - around 100 seats in the 193-member parliament.