Voting-rights profile
Malawi
Africa · mw
Presidential republic; the president is elected by direct popular vote and, since a landmark 2020 court ruling, must win an absolute majority (50% + 1) of valid votes. Elections are administered by the Malawi Electoral Commission.
Profile last reviewed July 24, 2026
Malawi introduced universal adult suffrage at independence from Britain in 1964, then spent three decades as a one-party state under Hastings Banda until a 1993 referendum restored multiparty politics. Its defining electoral moment came in 2019–2020, when the Constitutional Court annulled a presidential election over tally-sheet irregularities and ordered a fresh vote — only the second such annulment in Africa after Kenya in 2017. The rerun was won by Lazarus Chakwera under the newly affirmed 50% + 1 majority rule, and the courts' intervention became a continental reference point for judicial protection of elections.
How voting works today
- Voting age
- 18 and over
- Voter registration
- Voter-initiated
- Compulsory voting
- No
- Postal voting
- Not available
- Early voting
- Not available
- Online voting
- Not available
- Voting from abroad
- Not available
Voting is in person on paper ballots, counted at the polling station with party agents present. There is no postal, early or diaspora voting. Registration is conducted in periodic drives by the Malawi Electoral Commission ahead of each election cycle.
How the franchise changed
Every entry records a change in who could vote, or how — expansions, restrictions and procedural reforms alike.
- 1964Expansion
Universal adult suffrage was established as Nyasaland became independent Malawi.
- 1966Restriction
Malawi became a one-party republic under the Malawi Congress Party; genuine electoral competition ended for nearly three decades.
- 1994Expansion
The first multiparty elections in a generation were held, after a 1993 referendum ended one-party rule.
- 2020Reform
The Constitutional Court annulled the 2019 presidential result over widespread tally-sheet irregularities and ordered a fresh election, ruling that the presidency requires an absolute majority (50% + 1); the Supreme Court upheld the decision.
Chilima & Anor. v Mutharika & Anor. [2020] MWHC 2
Safeguards on the count
- Ballot type
- Paper ballots
- Post-election audit
- Judicial challenge only
- Election administration
- Independent commission
- Domestic observers
- Yes
- International observers
- Yes
The tally sheet is the system's checkable record — and its weakness. The 2020 annulment turned on tippexed, duplicated and altered tally sheets. Courts have shown they will annul a result when the paper trail cannot support it; the fresh election that followed was run by a reconstituted commission and accepted as credible by observers.
Worth knowing
- Malawi was the second country in Africa — after Kenya — where a court annulled a presidential election and ordered a rerun (February 2020).Chilima & Anor. v Mutharika & Anor. [2020] MWHC 2
- The June 2020 fresh election made Lazarus Chakwera the first Malawian president elected with an outright majority — 58.57% — under the 50% + 1 requirement affirmed by the courts.2020 Fresh Presidential Election — official results by polling station
Elections in the database
People
- Head of stateLazarus ChakweraPresident of Malawi (2020–2025)
- Head of statePeter MutharikaPresident of Malawi (2014–2020; from 2025)
Sources
- Chilima & Anor. v Mutharika & Anor. [2020] MWHC 2— High Court of Malawi sitting as the Constitutional Court
- 2020 Fresh Presidential Election — official results by polling station— Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC)
- Voter Turnout Database— International IDEA