Malawi
National Assembly
About parliament
Basic information such as the official name of parliament and details of its structure and leadership. Also includes the current breakdown of MPs by sex and age, and provisions for quotas and reserved seats.
Parliament name
National Assembly
Chamber name
National Assembly
Parliamentary term (years)
5
IPU membership
Affiliation periods
from 1968 to 2003
from 2010
IPU Geopolitical Group/s
IPU Geopolitical Groups: African Group, Arab Group, Asia-Pacific Group, Eurasia Group, Group of Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC), Twelve Plus Group.
African Group
Speaker
Official title
The Speaker may for example be known as the Presiding Officer, President, Chairman/Chairperson, etc.
Speaker of the National Assembly
Speaker
Catherine
Gotani Hara
(Female)
Year of birth
1973
Term
19.06.2019
Additional information
Elected on 19 June 2019.
Secretary General
Official title
This post is most commonly called Secretary General or Clerk. It may also be called Secretary, Head/Chief of the Secretariat, Director General, etc.
Clerk
Secretary General
Fiona
Kalemba
(Female)
Members
Statutory number of members
Statutory number of members, as defined in the constitution or other fundamental law.
Principal mode of designation of members
Directly elected
Compare data of this field.
Directly elected members
Directly elected by citizens.
193
Current number of members
Number of members who currently hold seats in parliament. May be lower or higher than the statutory number of members.
Men
The number of male parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
148
Women
The number of female parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
Percentage of women
Calculated by dividing the current number of women by the current number of members.
Statutory number of members per country
As defined in the constitution or other fundamental laws. Combines the number of parliamentarians in both chambers in bicameral parliaments.
Population (in thousands)
Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects.
Inhabitants per parliamentarian
Calculated by dividing the population by the statutory number of parliamentarians.
Age
Data on the age of parliamentarians is collected at start of the legislature, following the most recent elections. This data is not updated during the legislature.
Average age of all members
Youngest member (years)
Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
Youngest member
Fyness Magonjwa (Female)
Reserved seats and quotas
There are reserved seats in parliament for certain groups
Reserved seats are a means to ensure the parliamentary representation of certain groups in society.
Electoral quota for women
Quotas to promote the representation of women in parliament.
Notes
Some political parties allocate/reserve a certain percentage of seats for women.
Legal source
Legal text that stipulates the quota, such as the Constitution or electoral law.
United Democratic Front (UDF) aims to have 25 percent of its parliamentary seats held by women, according to the party constitution.
Malawi Congress Party [MCP] aims to allocate 33 percent of the seats to women at all levels of the party structure. according to the party Manifesto, women should occupy 30 per cent or more of all decision, policy and managerial positions in the government" (MCP Manifesto of 2004, article 6.6a)
Malawi Congress Party [MCP] aims to allocate 33 percent of the seats to women at all levels of the party structure. according to the party Manifesto, women should occupy 30 per cent or more of all decision, policy and managerial positions in the government" (MCP Manifesto of 2004, article 6.6a)
Electoral quota for youth
Quotas to promote the representation of youth in parliament.
Links to additional information
Parliamentary website
Link(s) to parliamentary web site in English, French and/or local languages.
Constitution
Official links to the Constitution in English, French and/or original language is provided. Links to unofficial translations where no other source is available.