National Assembly (Malawi)

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. 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. 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.

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.

See also

• History of Malawi
• Legislative Branch
• List of legislatures by country
• List of Speakers of the National Assembly of Malawi
• List of current members of the National Assembly of Malawi

External links

• Official website