Malawi Parliament to swear in 191 MPs from June 9
Malawi’s newly elected lawmakers will be sworn in Monday at the parliament building in Lilongwe, the acting Clerk of Malawi Parliament Roosevelt Gondwe has said.
Acccording to Gondwe, Chief Justice Anastasia Msosa will preside the oath of the 191 members of 193 seat House.
There will be a by-election in Blantyre North and also Thyolo East as winner Peter Mutharika was aso elected as the Head of State. His seat will be declared vacant.
“Swearing in of new parliamentarians will take place in the chambers from 9 June to 12 June, while the orientation will take place from 11 June to 13 June respectively,” said Gondwe in a notice to all elected MPs.
The swearing in ceremony will take place as the people’s mace will remain upright in front of the National Assembly podium .
The mace, which represents the Speaker’s authority, will be laid horizontally before the podium only after the newly elected Speaker is ushered to the presiding officer’s chair by the serjeant-at-arms – the signal for the official start to the new Parliament.
It’s all part and parcel of the pomp and ceremony set to unfold for the swearing in of the brand new and returning MPs, followed by the election of the National Assembly Speaker and the deputy Speakers.
The results of the May 20 tripartite elections have shown that independent members of Parliament (MPs) have become a dominant bloc in the National Assembly.
According to Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) independent MPs lead in terms of representation as they are 52 compared to 50 for ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), 48 for Malawi Congress Party (MCP), 26 for People’s Party (PP), 14 for United Democratic Front (UDF) and one each for Alliance for Democracy (Aford) and Chipani Cha Pfuko (CCP) of Enoch Chihana and Davis Katsonga respectively.
