Parliament opens June 21, President Mutharika to conduct state opening with Sona
Parliament opens Friday June 24 and President Peter Mutharika, whose presidential re-election is under contention in the courts, will conduct the state opening by delivering a State of the Nation Address (Sona).
Clerk of Parliament Fiona Kalemba says soon after the State opening of Parliament , the House will adjourn till Monday.
The House is expected to sit from June 24 to July 12, 2019.
“This will be the first meeting of the National Assembly in the 48th session of parliament.”
On Monday, the House is expected to elect a speaker and two deputy speakers.
Mutharika is expected to announce a 20 member cabinet just on time before the opening of the 193 strong House.
Meanwhile, Scottish Government member of Cabinet and parliamentarian Margaret Curran has asked newly-elected legislators to strive to serve all Malawians across the political divide by cooperating with fellow members of Parliament (MPs) towards achieving nation-building goals.
The British parliamentarian expressed the sentiments in Lilongwe yesterday in a keynote address to the new MPs and others who got re-elected in the May 21 Tripartite Elections.
She spoke at the opening of a five-day orientation workshop for members of Malawi’s 193-seat Parliament .
During the May 21 vote, there was no parliamentary election in Lilongwe South following the death of a candidate weeks before polling day but voters elected 134 new faces, representing 68 percent.
The 192 legislators elected to date are broken down as follows Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) 62, Malawi Congress Party (MCP) 55, independents 55, United Democratic Front (UDF) 10, People’s Party (PP) five; UTM Party four and Alliance for Democracy (Aford) one.
About 64 MPs have returned to Parliament, according to results from the Malawi Electoral Commission, up from 46 in 2014. In 2009, 47 MPs out of 193 returned to Parliament, 49 in 2004, 61 in 1999 general election.
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