 |
|---|
 Malawiportal |
The Legislative Council was the legislature of Nyasaland.
| |
|---|
| Malawiportal |
The Legislative Council was the legislature of Nyasaland.
The Legislative Council was established in 1907 by the Nyasaland Order in Council. [1] It initially consisted of the Governor, several ex-officio members, including the attorney general, the chief secretary and the financial secretary, official members (Europeans employed by the British authorities), unofficial members (Europeans not employed by the authorities) and extraordinary members who were appointed by the governor when special advice was required. [1] The new Council met for the first time on 7 May 1908. [1] In the first Council the unofficial members had a five-year term, reduced to three thereafter. [1]
By 1932 the Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce was responsible for nominating two candidates for vacancies of the unofficial (from which the governor would choose), whilst one member was usually appointed from the Missionary Societies. [1] In 1932 the number of official and unofficial members was increased to four of each. [2]
In 1939 the Council was reformed, becoming a 13-member body consisting of the governor, six official members and six unofficial members. Of the six unofficial members, four were chosen from a list of nominees produced by the Nyasaland Convention of Associations, one from a list provided by the Northern Provinces Association and one from Missionary Societies. [2] A further six members were added in 1949, of which three were officials, two were Africans recommended by the African Protectorate Council and appointed by the governor and one was from a list submitted by the Indian Chamber of Commerce. Another official and an African unofficial member were added in 1953, [2] bringing total membership to 21, of which three were Africans.
Changes to the constitution in 1955 introduced direct elections to the Council, which was reformed to consist of the governor, four ex officio members (the attorney general, the chief secretary, the financial secretary and the Secretary for African Affairs), seven officials and eleven elected members. Six of the elected members were non-Africans elected directly by a non-African voter roll, with the other five indirectly elected by the African Provincial Councils. [2] The first elections were held on 15 March 1956.
In 1957 the 23-member Council moved into a new building in Zomba, as the original building completed in 1908 had been designed for only seven members. [2] In February 1958 Henry Wilcox Wilson was appointed as the Council's first Speaker, replacing the governor. [2] The following year the Council was expanded again, with another seven officials and two African members added. [2] Elections due to be held that year were cancelled due to a state of emergency, and the additional two African members were nominated to fill the vacancies instead.
A new constitution in 1960 increased membership of the Council to 28, of which 20 were elected by voters on the "lower roll" and eight by voters on the "higher roll". Those on the lower roll had to be at least 21, have paid tax for at least 10 years, be literate in English and have an income of MK240 per year, ownership of at least MK500 worth of property or literacy in any other language. The upper roll was limited to university graduates, people with a secondary education and income of at least MK600 a year or property worth MK100, people with a primary education and an income of at least MK960 a year or property worth MK200, or people with no education and an income of at least MK1,400 a year or owning MK3,000 of property. [2] A total of 106,095 qualified for the lower roll and 4,337 for the higher roll. [3] Elections were held in 1961 and won by the Malawi Congress Party, which took 22 of the 29 seats.
Following more amendments to the constitution after talks in 1963, the Legislative Council was to be replaced by the Legislative Assembly. [4] The first elections to the new Assembly were held on 28 April the following year.
Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in south central Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia. It was initially administered, as were the two earlier protectorates, by the British South Africa Company (BSAC), a chartered company, on behalf of the British Government. From 1924, it was administered by the British Government as a protectorate, under similar conditions to other British-administered protectorates, and the special provisions required when it was administered by BSAC were terminated.
Elections in Botswana take place within the framework of a multi-party democracy and a parliamentary system. The National Assembly is mostly directly elected, and in turn elects the President and some of its own members. The Ntlo ya Dikgosi is a mixture of appointed, hereditary and indirectly elected members.
Elections in Zambia take place within the framework of a multi-party democracy and a presidential system. The President and National Assembly are simultaneously elected for five-year terms.
Elections in Southern Rhodesia were used from 1899 to 1923 to elect part of the Legislative Council and from 1924 to elect the whole of the Legislative Assembly which governed the colony. Since the granting of self-government in 1923, Southern Rhodesia used the Westminster parliamentary system as its basis of government. The Political party that had most of the seats in the Legislative Assembly became the government. The person in charge of this bloc was the Premier, later renamed Prime Minister, who then chose his cabinet from his elected colleagues.
The Southern Rhodesia Legislative Council election of April 17, 1899 were the first elections to take place in the Colony of Southern Rhodesia. They followed the Southern Rhodesia Order in Council of 1898 which granted to the Colony a Legislative Council consisting of at least ten voting members: the Administrator of Southern Rhodesia ex officio, five members nominated by the British South Africa Company, and four members elected by registered voters. The Resident Commissioner of Southern Rhodesia, Sir Marshal James Clarke, also sat on the Legislative Council ex officio but without the right to vote.
Legislative Council elections were held in Southern Rhodesia on 30 April 1920, the seventh elections to the Legislative Council.
General elections were held for the Legislative Council in Nyasaland in August 1961. The result was a victory for the Malawi Congress Party, which won all 20 lower roll seats and two of the eight higher roll seats.
General elections were due to be held for the Legislative Council in Nyasaland on 28 April 1964, and would have been the first in the country under universal suffrage. However, there were no opposition candidates to either the Malawi Congress Party in the general roll seats, or the Nyasaland Constitutional Party in the special roll seats, resulting in all 53 candidates winning without votes being cast.
General elections were held in Northern Rhodesia on 20 March 1959, although voting did not take place in two constituencies until 9 April. The United Federal Party (UFP) was expected to win the elections, and did so by taking 13 of the 22 elected seats on the Legislative Council.
General elections were held for the first time in Nyasaland on 15 March 1956.
General elections were held in Nigeria for the first time on 20 September 1923. The Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) won three of the four elected seats in the Legislative Council.
General elections were held in Nigeria on 28 September 1928. The Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) won three of the four elected seats in the Legislative Council.
General elections were held in Nigeria in 1933. The Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) won three of the four elected seats in the Legislative Council.
General elections were held in Nigeria on 21 October 1938. The Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM) won three of the four elected seats in the Legislative Council, defeating the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), which had won every election since 1923.
Partial general elections were held in Nigeria in 1943, with only two of the four elected seats available.
General elections were held in Nigeria in 1947. The Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) won three of the four elected seats in the Legislative Council.
The Legislative Council of Kenya (LegCo) was the legislature of Kenya between 1907 and 1963. It was modelled on the Westminster system. It began as a nominated, exclusively European institution and evolved into an electable legislature with universal suffrage. It was succeeded by the National Assembly in 1963.
General elections were held in Fiji in July 1937, the first in which an equal number of Europeans and Indo-Fijians were elected.
Michael Hill Blackwood CBE was a lawyer and politician who spent most of his working life in colonial Nyasaland and in Malawi in the early years of its independence. Although he represented the interests of European settlers before independence and opposed both the transfer of power to the African majority and the break-up of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, he remained in the country as a member of its legislature after Malawi’s independence and until his retirement on 1983.
General elections were held in Western Samoa on 23 January 1924.