The National Assembly of Malawi is the supreme legislative body of the nation. It is situated on Capital Hill,
Lilongwe
Lilongwe (, , ) is the capital and most populated city of the African country of Malawi. It has a population of 989,318 as of the 2018 Census, up from a population of 674,448 in 2008. In 2020 that figure was 1,122,000. The city is located in th ...
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.http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/cafrad/unpan004840.pdf 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The 1994 Constitution provided for a Senate but Parliament repealed it.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. 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.
Current Parliament
The current parliament was inaugurated in June 2019 after the
2019 Malawian general election
General elections were held in Malawi on 21 May 2019 to elect the President, National Assembly and local government councillors. Incumbent President Peter Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party was re-elected, with his party remaining the ...
. No party managed to secure a
majority
A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from #Related terms, related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-WebsterPeter Mutharika won the presidential election, however, due to irregularities the constitutional court ordered a re-run of the presidential elections in
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...
. 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.
See also
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2007 Malawian political crisis
The 2007 Malawian political crisis was started when the Supreme Court of Malawi ruled on 15 June 2007 that the speaker of the National Assembly of Malawi, Louis Chimango, had the power to expel MPs who had changed their party affiliation since the ...