National Assembly
Type
Type
Lower House (de jure)[nb 1]
Unicameral (de facto)
History
Founded26 May 1964
New session started
June 2019
Leadership
Catherine Gotani Hara, MCP
since 19 June 2019
Structure
Seats193
Political groups
Government (97)[2]
  •   MCP (59)
  •   UTM (5)
  •   Independent (33)

Opposition (96)

Length of term
5 years
Elections
First-past-the-post
Last election
21 May 2019
Meeting place
Lilongwe
Website
www.parliament.gov.mw

The National Assembly of Malawi is the supreme legislative body of the nation. It is situated on Capital Hill, Lilongwe along Presidential Way. The National Assembly alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in Malawi. At its head is the Speaker of the House who is elected by his or her peers.[3] Since June 19, 2019 the Speaker is Catherine Gotani Hara.

The 1994 Constitution provided for a Senate but Parliament repealed it. Malawi therefore has a unicameral legislature in practice.[3] The National Assembly has 193 members of Parliament (MPs) who are directly elected in single-member constituencies using the simple majority (or first-past-the-post) system and serve five-year terms.[4]

Current Parliament

The current parliament was inaugurated in June 2019 after the 2019 Malawian general election. No party managed to secure a majority in the house. Peter Mutharika won the presidential election, however, due to irregularities the constitutional court ordered a re-run of the presidential elections in 2020.[5] Parliament passed the Parliamentary and Presidential Elections Act (PPEA) Amendment Bill on 24 February 2020, extended the terms of MPs and local councillors by one year to allow for harmonised presidential, parliamentary and local elections in 2025.[6]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The Constitution Provides for a Senate - In Practice the Senate has not yet been Established; Compare the Federation Council of Iraq.[1]

References

  1. ↑ Article 49 of the Constitution of Malawi: "'Parliament' consists of the National Assembly, the Senate and the President as Head of State."
  2. ↑ https://t.me/africaelects/183 #Malawi: after losing 6 of the 7 recent by-elections, the DPP (centre) has lost its relative majority in the National Assembly for the first time since 2009.
  3. 1 2 http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/cafrad/unpan004840.pdf
  4. ↑ "africanelectionsportal.org -Malawi-". africanelections.org.
  5. ↑ "How one of world's poorest countries can teach US a vital lesson – Susan Dalgety". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  6. ↑ "Elections May 19 | The Nation Online | Malawi Daily Newspaper". The Nation Online. 25 February 2020. Retrieved 2020-06-27.

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