The political framework of Malawi

Political Outline

Current Political Leaders: President: Lazarus Chakwera (since 28 June 2020)
Vice President: Saulos Chilima (since 3 February 2020)
Next Election Dates: Presidential Election: June 2025
National Assembly: September 2025
Main Political Parties: Malawi is a multi-party democracy. The main political parties include:

Malawi Congress Party (MCP): centre-right; rooted in African nationalism and conservatism
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP): centre; liberal, with a focus on anti-corruption
United Transformation Movement (UTM): centre to centre-right; liberal, emphasising reform and transformation
United Democratic Front (UDF): centre; liberal, historically strong in the southern region
People's Party (PP): centre-right; conservative, founded by former President Joyce Banda
Alliance for Democracy (AFORD): centre-left; social democratic, advocating for democratic reforms.
Executive Power: The executive power is exercised by the government. The President of Malawi, elected by universal suffrage for a five-year term, is both head of state and head of government. The President appoints the Cabinet, whose members may be drawn from within or outside the National Assembly.

Alongside the President, a Vice-President is elected on the same ticket. The President may also appoint a second Vice-President, who must be from a different political party.
Legislative Power: Legislative power is vested in the Parliament, which, under the Constitution, consists of two chambers: the National Assembly and the Senate. The National Assembly has 193 members, elected for five-year terms in single-member constituencies. The Senate, originally intended to have 80 seats representing traditional leaders, geographical districts, and special interest groups (such as women, people with disabilities, and youth), has never been established.

Indicator of Freedom of the Press

The world rankings, published annually, measures violations of press freedom worldwide. It reflects the degree of freedom enjoyed by journalists, the media and digital citizens of each country and the means used by states to respect and uphold this freedom. Finally, a note and a position are assigned to each country. To compile this index, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) prepared a questionnaire incorporating the main criteria (44 in total) to assess the situation of press freedom in a given country. This questionnaire was sent to partner organisations,150 RWB correspondents, journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. It includes every kind of direct attacks against journalists and digital citizens (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, etc.) or against the media (censorship, confiscation, searches and harassment etc.).

World Rank:: 62/180

Indicator of Political Freedom

Definition

Definition:

The Indicator of Political Freedom provides an annual evaluation of the state of freedom in a country as experienced by individuals. The survey measures freedom according to two broad categories: political rights and civil liberties. The ratings process is based on a checklist of 10 political rights questions (on Electoral Process, Political Pluralism and Participation, Functioning of Government) and 15 civil liberties questions (on Freedom of Expression, Belief, Associational and Organizational Rights, Rule of Law, Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights). Scores are awarded to each of these questions on a scale of 0 to 4, where a score of 0 represents the smallest degree and 4 the greatest degree of rights or liberties present. The total score awarded to the political rights and civil liberties checklist determines the political rights and civil liberties rating. Each rating of 1 through 7, with 1 representing the highest and 7 the lowest level of freedom, corresponds to a range of total scores.

Ranking:: Partly Free
Political Freedom:: 3/7

Political freedom in the world (interactive map)
Source: Freedom in the World Report, Freedom House

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