Politics of Malawi takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Malawi is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly. There is a cabinet of Malawi that is appointed by the President of Malawi. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The government of Malawi has been a multi-party democracy since 1994. The Economist Intelligence Unit has rated Malawi as "hybrid regime" in 2016.
Elson Bakili Muluzi is a Malawian politician who was the first freely elected President of Malawi from 1994 to 2004. He was also chairman of the United Democratic Front (UDF) until 2009. He succeeded Hastings Kamuzu Banda as Malawi's president. He also served in Banda's cabinet as Minister without Portfolio, before retiring in 1980.
General elections were held in Malawi on 20 May 2004 to elect a President and the National Assembly. The election had originally been scheduled for 18 May but was postponed for two days in response to opposition complaints of irregularities in the voter roll. By 22 May no results had been announced, leading to protests from the opposition and threats of disorder. On 25 May the Malawi Electoral Commission finally announced the results of the election. Bingu wa Mutharika, the candidate of the ruling United Democratic Front, was declared the winner of the presidential poll, whilst the Malawi Congress Party had won most seats in the National Assembly vote. Voter turnout was around 62%.
The United Democratic Front is a political party in Malawi founded in 1992 by Bakili Muluzi. It claims to be a liberal party in Malawi and is mainly strong in the southern region populated by ethnic Yao. Bakili Muluzi was President of Malawi from 1994 to 2004.
Brown Mpinganjira is a Malawian politician. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malawi under President Bakili Muluzi from 1999 until 2000. He then broke with Muluzi over the latter's attempt to have the constitution changed so that he could run for a third term of office. Mpinganjira formed his own party, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). In the 2004 presidential election, he placed fourth, receiving only 8.7% of the vote. The party managed to contribute a number of Members of Parliament to the National Assembly among them Billy Kaunda and Mpinganjira himself. Mpinganjira later dissolved the NDA and rejoined the United Democratic Front, a party he helped to found.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a political party in Malawi. The party was formed in February 2005 by Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika after a dispute with the United Democratic Front (UDF), which was led by his predecessor, Bakili Muluzi.
The Malawi Congress Party (MCP) is a political party in Malawi. It was formed as a successor party to the banned Nyasaland African Congress when the country, then known as Nyasaland, was under British rule. The MCP, under Hastings Banda, presided over Malawian independence in 1964, and from 1966 to 1993 was the only legal party in the country. It has continued to be a major force in the country since losing power. In the 2009 elections, it received approximately 30% of the national vote.
The People's Progressive Movement is a political party in Malawi. At the elections of 20 May 2004, its candidate for president Aleke Banda won 2.5% and the party was part of the Mgwirizano Coalition, that won 27 out of 194 seats. Aleke Banda was the close friend of hastings Kamuzu Banda in 1956. He was among the people who founded the Nyasaland Congress Party. He was also saved as Ministry of Agriculture in the United Democratic Front (UDF) during Bakali Muluzi's time. He left UDF together with Mark Katsonga Phiri and formed their party after there was disagreement with Muluzi about the Presidency of Bingu wa Munthalika.
The United Democratic Front (UDF) is a political party in Namibia. Justus ǁGaroëb was the party's leader since its foundation in 1989 until 2013, when he stepped down as leader of the party.
John Zenus Ungapake Tembo is a Malawian politician who served for years as President of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP). Tembo comes from the Dedza District in central Malawi, and he is a teacher by profession. Beginning in the 1960s he was an important politician in Malawi, and he was a key figure in the regime of Hastings Banda (1964–1994). He has been variously described as "physically slight, ascetic, fastidious" and "cunning". He was replaced as President of the MCP in August 2013.
Gwandaguluwe "Gwanda" Chakuamba Phiri was a Malawian politician who was the leader of the New Republican Party (NRP). He hailed from Nsanje, a district on the southern part of Malawi.
Rodwell Thomas Changara Munyenyembe was a Malawian politician who served twice as Speaker of the National Assembly, from 1994 to 1999 and again from 2004 until his death. He also twice served as a cabinet minister, in the governments of Hastings Banda and Bakili Muluzi. He worked as a teacher prior to entering politics.
Chakufwa Chihana was a Malawian human rights activist, pro-democracy advocate, trade unionist and later, politician. He held the post of Second Vice President in Malawi, under President Bakili Muluzi. He is often called the 'father of Malawian democracy'. He served as leader of Malawi's first underground political movement, which urged President Hastings Kamuzu Banda, who had ruled for three decades, to call for a referendum on political pluralism. He was awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award in 1992.
The Right Hon Dr Justin Malewezi or Justin Chimera Malewezi is a Malawian politician and a Member of Parliament for Ntchisi North in the Central Region of Malawi. He was Vice-President of Malawi from 1994 to 2004. Malewezi quit the United Democratic Front in 2004 and eventually represented the People's Progressive Movement in the 2004 general election, in which he garnered 2.5% of the total national vote.
General elections were held in Malawi on 19 May 2009. Incumbent President Bingu wa Mutharika ran for re-election; his main opponent was John Tembo, the president of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP). Five other candidates also ran. The election was won by Mutharika, who was re-elected to the Presidency with around two-thirds of the vote. Mutharika's DPP also won a strong parliamentary majority.
General elections were held in Malawi on 26 and 27 June 1992. the Malawi Congress Party was the sole legal party at the time, the country having become a one-party state in 1966. Voter turnout was reported to be 80% by the government, but was actually around 40%. 62 incumbents lost their seats.
General elections were held in Malawi on 15 June 1999 for President and the National Assembly, having originally been scheduled for 25 May, but then postponed twice as a result of requests by the opposition to extend the voter registration period. Both votes were won by the ruling United Democratic Front, who took 93 of the 192 seats in the National Assembly, and whose candidate, Bakili Muluzi, won the presidential election with an absolute majority.
Harry Thomson a.k.a. “Clean Harry” is a Malawian business man, Minister and politician. He was born in Zomba, the capital of Nyasaland in 1934. He is a founding member of the UDF party and former Minister of Trade and Industry.
