Politics of Malawi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Malawi
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Malawi

President Bingu wa Mutharika Vice-President Cassim Chilumpha National Assembly Political Parties Elections 2004 Districts Foreign relations
Other countries • Politics Portal view • talk • edit

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 pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The Government of Malawi has been a multi-party democracy since 1994.

1 Executive branch
2 Legislative branch
3 Political parties and elections
4 Judicial branch
5 Local government
6 International organization participation

[edit] Executive branch

Main office holders
Office	Name	Party	Since
President	Bingu wa Mutharika	DPP	20 May 2004
Vice-President	Cassim Chilumpha	UDF	16 June 2004

Under the 1995 constitution, the president, who is both chief of state and head of the government, is chosen through universal direct suffrage every 5 years. Malawi has a vice president who is elected with the president. The president has the option of appointing a second vice president, who must be from a different party. The members of the presidentially appointed cabinet can be drawn from either within or outside of the legislature. Bakili Muluzi was president from 21 May 1994 to May 2004, having won reelection in 2000 with 51.4% of the vote to leading challenger Gwandaguluwe Chakuamba's 44.3% for the MCP-AFORD party. In the 2004 election Bingu wa Mutharika defeated Chakuamba by a ten point margin.

[edit] Legislative branch

The National Assembly has 194 members, elected for a five year term in single-seat constituencies. The constitution also provides for a second house, a Senate of 80 seats, but to date no action has been taken to create the Senate. The Senate is intended to provide representation for traditional leaders and the different geographical districts, as well as various special interest groups, such as women, youth, and the disabled.

[edit] Political parties and elections

The following election results include names of political parties. See for additional information about parties the List of political parties in Malawi. An overview on elections and election results is included in Elections in Malawi.

Main article: Malawi general election, 2004

[discuss] – [edit]
**Summary of the 20 May 2004 Malawi presidential election results**
Candidates	Parties	Votes	%
Bingu wa Mutharika	United Democratic Front	1,119,738	35.9
John Tembo	Malawi Congress Party	846,457	27.1
Gwanda Chakuamba	Mgwirizano Coalition	802,386	25.7
Brown Mpinganjira	National Democratic Alliance	272,172	8.7
Justin Chimera Malewezi	People's Progressive Movement	78,892	2.5
Total (turnout 54.3 %)		3,119,645	100.0
Registered voters		5,742,747

[discuss] – [edit]
**Summary of the 20 May 2004 National Assembly of Malawi election results**
	%	Seats
Malawi Congress Party	.	60
United Democratic Front	.	49
Mgwirizano Coalition Republican Party (15 seats) People's Progressive Movement (6 seats) Movement for Genuine Democratic Change (3 seats) Malawi Democratic Party Malawi Forum for Unity and Development National Unity Party People's Transformation Party	.	27
National Democratic Alliance	.	8
Alliance for Democracy	.	6
Non-partisans		38
To be elected in by-elections		6
Total (turnout %)		194
Source: SBS/IRIN/BBC (citing Malawi Election Commission)/Xinhua

[edit] Judicial branch

The constitution provides for an independent judiciary. Malawi's judicial system, based on the English model, is made up of magisterial lower courts, a High Court, and a Supreme Court of Appeal.

[edit] Local government

Local government is carried out in 28 districts within three regions administered by regional administrators and district commissioners who are appointed by the central government. Local elections, the first in the multi-party era, took place on November 21, 2000. The UDF party won 70% of the seats in this election. The districts are Balaka, Blantyre, Chikwawa, Chiradzulu, Chitipa, Dedza, Dowa, Karonga, Kasungu, Likoma, [[Lilongwe District|Lilongwe], Machinga, Mangochi, Mchinji, Mulanje, Mwanza, Mzimba, Nkhata Bay, Nkhotakota, Nsanje, Ntcheu, Ntchisi,Neno Phalombe, Rumphi, Salima, Thyolo, Zomba