Malawi 2014

Yearbook 2014

Malawi. According to Countryaah.com, Malawi population in 2020 is estimated at 19,129,963. Internationally acclaimed President Joyce Banda lost power during the year in a presidential election whose results were disputed. In addition to Banda, eleven candidates stood in the election and the main challenger to the presidential post was Peter Mutharika, brother of Bingu wa Mutharika, whom Banda replaced two years earlier when he quickly died in a heart attack.

On Election Day, May 20, many polling stations were declared missing ballot papers and in several places the polling stations were not opened in time. In addition, during the counting, the computerized voting system that would have been used collapsed and the voters were forced to count all votes manually. Banda demanded that the election be annulled and said that she, as president, had the constitutional right to decide on a new election, which was however rejected by the Supreme Court.

Malawi Population 2014

As the number of votes exceeded the number of eligible voters, the country’s electoral commission decided that some of the districts should be recalculated. After the vote, the election results were presented which gave Mutharika 36% of the votes followed by former pastor Lazarus Chakwera who received 28%. Only then did Banda end up having to settle for 20% of the vote. In the parliamentary elections, neither party gained a majority, but Mutharika’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) got the most seats in parliament, closely followed by Chakwera’s party Malawi’s Congress Party (MCP), which got 48 seats. Banda’s party The People’s Party (PP) received only 26 seats, while a full 52 seats went to independent parties.

According to topb2bwebsites, during the fall, further details were revealed in the corruption scandal called “Cashgate” discovered the year before. In August, the country’s former tourism minister, Tressa Namathanga Senzani, was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison for involvement in the corruption legacy, which included large sums of money lost from the administration. Former Budget Manager Paul Mphwiyo and his wife were also arrested during the year on suspicion of theft and money laundering, and in November an official was sentenced to nine years in prison for corruption.

History. – In July 1960 a new constitution of Nyasaland (then a British colony) ensured Africans a majority in the Legislative Council (at least 20 of the 28 elected seats) and equality among the members of the Executive Council. In the elections of August 1961, the Malawi Congress Party, opposed to Nyasaland’s membership in the Federation of Central Africa, won 23 seats on the Legislative Council with its related parties and obtained 5 seats of “non-officials” on the Executive Council. From May 1963 (as foreseen by a further constitution, of November 1962) Nyasaland began to enjoy self-government; on 6 July 1964 it gained independence and took the name of Malawi. The leader remains prime minister since February 1963 nationalist HR Banda, who resigned some ministers accusing them of complicity in a pro-Chinese plot (others withdrew, including the authoritative H. Chipembere, who left Malawi after a failed armed action in February 1965), affirming more firmly his personal power. In July 1966 the Malawi became a republic, under the preschool of Banda president for life since 1970. According to Abbreviation Finder, MW stands for Malawi in English. Click to see other meanings of this 2-letter acronym.

Banda’s politics is characterized by an authoritarian paternalism (since 1971 every opposition party has been dissolved; the session of Parliament is limited to one month a year) and by a centralized control over every aspect of the life of the country, including more on teaching (the University of Malawi, based in Zomba, was opened in 1965); in the economic field, agricultural development was first promoted, appealing to individual initiative. Since 1972, a process of “Africanization” of all posts of public responsibility has been initiated, while hostility towards any movement outside the Malawi Congress Party has turned against Jehovah’s Witnesses (about 20,000 followers, some of whom have left the country). Malawi). In foreign policy,economic partner and employs about 300,000 Malawian workers (about another 200,000 are employed in Rhodesia); in 1970-71 there was an exchange of visits between Banda and the South African Prime Minister Vorster. Malawi had the same interest in relations with Mozambique (visited by Banda in 1971): Banda avoided, therefore, manifestations of hostility towards Portugal, while establishing discreet contacts with the local Liberation Front and then welcoming the independence of the Mozambique. In recent years, relations with neighboring African states have improved, while between 1975 and 1977 the government adopted repressive measures against opponents and religious (Jehovah’s Witnesses) and ethnic (Asian) minorities.

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