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'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.

Contents

Executive branch

Legislative branch

Political parties and elections

Judicial branch

Local government

International organization participation

Executive branch

|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.

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.

Political parties and elections

Main articles: Malawi general election, 2004

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.

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, Machinga, Mangochi, Mchinji, Mulanje, Mwanza, Mzimba, Nkhata Bay, Nkhotakota, Nsanje, Ntcheu, Ntchisi,Neno Phalombe, Rumphi, Salima, Thyolo, Zomba

International organization participation

ACP,
AfDB,
C,
CCC,
ECA,
FAO,
G-77,
IBRD,
ICAO,
ICCt,
ICFTU,
ICRM,
IDA,
IFAD,
IFC,
IFRCS,
ILO,
IMF,
IMO,
Intelsat,
Interpol,
IOC,
ISO (correspondent),
ITU,
NAM,
OAU,
OPCW,
SADC,
UN,
UNCTAD,
UNESCO,
UNIDO,
UNMIK,
UPU,
WFTU,
WHO,
WIPO,
WMO,
WToO,
WTrO