Yearbook 2004
Malawi. The total population in Malawi is 19,129,963 people in 2020. Presidential and parliamentary elections were held in May. Observers from the EU and the Commonwealth found significant deficiencies in the handling of the polling stations and also criticized the state’s efforts to influence the election, as well as the media’s monitoring of the election campaign being biased. The election was followed by extensive street protests and at least three people were killed in clashes between police and protesters.
In the presidential election, as expected, former Economy Minister Bingu wa Mutharika, hand-picked to the office of outgoing Prime Minister Bakili Muluzi, won. Mutharika received 36% of the vote, against 27% for veteran John Tembo of the former Malawi Congress Party (MCP).
In the parliamentary elections, however, Mutharika’s United Democratic Front (UDF) received only 49 seats, against 60 for the MCP. A period of strong persuasion attempts and settlements in the cloud followed, until the MCP had obtained a satisfactory majority through cooperation agreements and mergers with smaller parties. Mutharika immediately marked his independence from his predecessor by retaining only eight of his 46 ministers. He also dismissed the army chief and the state prosecutor and arrested one of the predecessor’s closest advisers, who were accused of embezzlement from the state bus company.
In the May 2014 parliamentary and presidential elections, Peter Mutharika of DPP was elected president with 36.4% of the vote. The turnout was 70.8%. Peter Mutharika was the deceased president’s little brother. In the parliamentary elections, the DPP suffered a stinging defeat as it lost 63 seats and had to meet with 51. It was, however, still the largest party in Parliament. The Malawi Congress Party got 22 seats angry and got 48, while Joyce Banda’s new Peoples Party (PP) got 26. The United Democratic Front got 14.
In December 2014, the Government Anti-Corruption Office (ACB) issued an arrest warrant against Joyce Banda for corruption. The office should have TV tapes to prove the former president’s involvement in corruption.
In January 2015, southern Africa was hit by heavy rains that caused significant flooding. In Malawi, 176 were dead and at least 153 were missing by mid-month. 200,000 were then run away from the bodies of water. The worst was the districts of Nsanje and Chikwawa.
The number of murders of albinos increased dramatically in 2015. The killers were individuals or gangs who wanted to sell body parts for use in witchcraft. 19 murders of albinos, abductions or searches were made during the year, of which 15 were children and 10 were girls. In March, the president made a sharp statement condemning the assassinations and abductions of albinos and urging security forces to crack down. Families with albino children lived in fear and often took the children out of school for fear of abduction or murder.
History. – Although in colonial times it met one of the most radical nationalist movements, after independence (6 July 1964) Malawi gave itself a conservative government under the direction of HK Banda, proclaimed president for life in 1971. Malawi is the l only African state to have had formal diplomatic relations with South Africa, even when it was isolated worldwide due to the apartheid policy. In 1980 Malawi joined the regional organization, SADCC (Southern African Development Coordination Conference), but opposed sanctions and boycott programs against South Africa. Relations with the ” front ” states, so called because they were engaged in the liberation of southern Africa, of which Malawi was also formally part, were difficult. With Mozambique in particular, Malawi often came to the brink of a real crisis due to the accusations made against him by the Mozambican government of giving hospitality and logistical assistance to the RENAMO guerrillas.
Internally, Banda’s dominance has always been absolute: the president monopolized the government and the single party, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), repressing all forms of dissent with drastic methods (exile, prison). Periodically there are symptoms of turbulence, but the various opposition fronts are forced to act in hiding or from abroad, with little influence on internal events. The only concession to the pressure for greater freedom of expression was the introduction of a ballot system between all members of the MCP: in the legislative elections since 1992 there were 675 candidates for 141 seats. Generally spared from drought, Malawi, which has focused on individual agriculture and benefits from the remittances of workers employed in South Africa (however, their number is decreasing), enjoys a more economic condition than the other countries in the region.