National Assembly (Malawi)

National Assembly
Type
Type
History
Founded 26 May 1964
New session started
 9 June 2014
Leadership
Speaker
Richard Msowoya, MCP
Since 16 June 2014
Structure
Seats 193
Political groups
      DPP (50)
     MCP (48)
     PP (26)
     UDF (14)
     AFORD (1)
     CCP (1)
     Independent (52)
     Vacant (1)
Length of term
 5 years
Elections
First-past-the-post
Last election
 20 May 2014
Meeting place
Lilongwe
Website
www.parliament.gov.mw

The National Assembly of Malawi is the supreme legislative body in the nation. It is situated on Capitol 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.[2] Since June 2014 the Speaker is Richard Msowoya.

Though the Constitution of Malawi provides that there shall be a Senate and a National Assembly, in practice, Malawi has a unicameral legislative body as only the latter is functional.[2] Its composition consists of Members of Parliament from each constituency who are more commonly addressed as "Members of Parliament" or "MP's". The National Assembly has 194 members who are directly elected in single member constituencies using the simple majority (or first-past-the-post) system and serve five-year terms.[3]

Current Parliament

The current parliament was inaugurated on 9 June 2014 after the 2014 general election. No party managed to secure a majority in the house. Two by-elections are expected to be held for the Thyolo East and Blantyre North constituencies. Peter Mutharika won the presidential election and therefore cannot serve the former constituency while a Malawi Congress Party candidate died prior to the election in the latter.[4]

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. 1 2 http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/cafrad/unpan004840.pdf
  3. ↑ "africanelectionsportal.org -Malawi-". africanelections.org.
  4. ↑ "BY-ELECTIONS FOR THYOLO EAST, BLANTYRE NORTH CONSTITUENCIES AWAIT 2014-2015 GVT BUDGET". faceomalawi.com. 2014-06-09. Retrieved 2014-06-09.

Coordinates: 13°57′08″S 33°47′16″E / 13.9522°S 33.7878°E / -13.9522; 33.7878

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