General elections were held in

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

on 17 May 1994 to elect the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

and

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

. They were the first multi-party elections in the country since prior to independence in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

, and the first since the restoration of multi-party democracy the previous year. The

Malawi Congress Party 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, pre ...

(MCP), which had governed the country since independence (from 1966 to 1993 as the sole legal party), was decisively beaten by the United Democratic Front (UDF). MCP leader

Hastings Banda Hastings Kamuzu Banda ( – 25 November 1997) was a Malawian politician and statesman who served as the leader of Malawi from 1964 to 1994. He served as Prime Minister of Malawi, Prime Minister from independence in 1964 to 1966, when Malawi was ...

, who had become president upon Malawi being proclaimed a republic in 1966 (he had served as

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

from independence until 1966), ran in his first election since being stripped of his title of president for life in 1993. He was defeated by the UDF's

Bakili Muluzi Elson Bakili Muluzi (born 17 March 1943) is a Malawian politician who was 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 al ...

, who received 47% of the vote to Banda's 33%. The UDF became the largest party in the National Assembly, but was three seats short of a majority. The MCP finished a distant second, and was left with less than one-third of the seats in the enlarged National Assembly. With the MCP's defeat beyond doubt, Banda conceded defeat two days after the polls closed and promised his "full support and cooperation" during the transition. Reputedly in his mid-nineties, he would have been the oldest elected president in world history had he won. The election completed Malawi's transition to full democracy.

Campaign

The National Assembly elections were contested by eight parties, who put forward a total of 600 candidates, as well as 13 independents. The UDF won 88 seats, three short of a majority, whilst the MCP finished second with 56 seats. Results in two seats, both won by Banda's MCP, were annulled due to irregularities.Malawi: Parliamentary Chamber: National Assembly: Elections held in 1994
Inter-Parliamentary Union Voter turnout was 79.6%.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An ex ...

, Michael Krennerich & Bernhard Thibaut (1999) ''Elections in Africa: A data handbook'', p558

Results

President

National Assembly

Aftermath

Following the elections, on 25 May Muluzi formed a 25-member

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

, including members of the Malawi National Democratic Party and the United Front for Multiparty Democracy. He left three posts unfilled in the hope that the Alliance for Democracy would also join the government.

References

External links

Post-election report
on

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{{Malawian elections Presidential elections in Malawi Elections in Malawi

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