{"id":48756,"date":"2016-05-17T09:04:52","date_gmt":"2016-05-17T07:04:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mobserver.co.za\/48756\/on-this-day-in-history-malawi-had-its-first-multiparty-elections\/"},"modified":"2016-05-17T09:04:52","modified_gmt":"2016-05-17T07:04:52","slug":"on-this-day-in-history-malawi-had-its-first-multiparty-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/uncategorized\/2016\/05\/17\/on-this-day-in-history-malawi-had-its-first-multiparty-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"On this day in history: Malawi had its first multiparty elections"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On 16 May 1994, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.malawitourism.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Malawi<\/a> National Assembly adopted a provisional constitution, and on 17 May Malawi voters streamed from impoverished villages to take part in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ipu.org\/parline-e\/reports\/arc\/2195_94.htm\" target=\"_blank\">first multiparty election<\/a> in three decades. Kamuzu Banda, one of Africa&#8217;s longest-serving leaders was overthrown.<\/p>\n<p>In 1964, Britain released the colony of Nyasaland and it became Malawi, with Kamuzu Banda sworn in as the country&#8217;s first president.<\/p>\n<p>From the beginning of his 30-year rule in Malawi, Banda followed policies which were at odds with other African leaders in the newly independent nations. He maintained cordial relations with the repressive white-supremacist regimes of the southern continent, in particular, South Africa and the Portuguese administration in neighbouring Mozambique.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/albertonrecord.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2016\/05\/mandela-kamuzu.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-107631\" src=\"https:\/\/albertonrecord.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2016\/05\/mandela-kamuzu.jpg\" alt=\"mandela-kamuzu\" width=\"520\" height=\"456\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The aging Banda continued to rule Malawi with an iron fist throughout the 1970s and into the late 1980s.<\/p>\n<p>By 1992, Banda&#8217;s grip had begun to weaken and he agreed to a referendum and 63 percent of voters favoured adopting a multi-party democracy. Two opposition groups, AFORD and the United Democratic Front (UDF), both led by former MCP officials, held a massive rally in January 1993.<\/p>\n<p>Bakili Muluzi of the UDF, a former cabinet minister, defeated Banda (MCP), Chihana (AFORD), and Kamlepo Kalua (Malawi Democratic Party). The new constitution took effect from 18 May 1995.<\/p>\n<div class='tie-fluid-width-video-wrapper tie-ignore-fitvid' style='margin-bottom: 30px;'>\n\t\t\t<iframe style='width: 100%; min-height: 300px; aspect-ratio: 16\/9;' src='https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/GDxfniisYwI' loading='lazy'><\/iframe>\n\t\t<\/div>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sahistory.org.za\/\" target=\"_blank\">SA History<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 17 May 1944, Malawi voters took part in the first multiparty election after a three decade dicatorship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7783,"featured_media":48757,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"hasGravity":false,"cxt_article_byline":"Caxton Central","cxt_disable_google_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2704,2681],"tags":[4465,3743,3169,4466,1903,4467],"class_list":["post-48756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment-news","category-lifestyle-news","tag-bakili-muluzi","tag-germany","tag-history","tag-kamuzu-banda","tag-malawi","tag-nyasaland"],"category_labels":{"Category":"Lifestyle","SubCategory":"Entertainment"},"tag_labels":["Bakili Muluzi","germany","history","Kamuzu Banda","Malawi","Nyasaland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7783"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}