Malawi Congress Party in the context of "1994 Malawian general election"

Hastings Kamuzu Banda (c. 1898 or 1906 – 25 November 1997) was a Malawian politician and statesman who served as the leader of Malawi from 1964 to 1994. He served as Prime Minister from independence in 1964 to 1966, when Malawi was a Dominion/Commonwealth realm. In 1966, the country became a republic and he became the first president as a result, ruling until his defeat in 1994.

After receiving much of his education in ethnography, linguistics, history, and medicine overseas, Banda returned to Nyasaland to speak against colonialism and advocate for independence from the United Kingdom. He was formally appointed Prime Minister of Nyasaland and led the country to independence in 1964. Two years later, he proclaimed Malawi a republic with himself as the first president. He consolidated power and later declared Malawi a one-party state under the Malawi Congress Party (MCP). In 1970, the MCP made Banda the party's president for life. In 1971, he became president for life of Malawi itself. A renowned anti-communist leader in Africa, he received support from the Western Bloc during the Cold War. He generally supported women's rights, improved the country's infrastructure, and maintained a good educational system relative to other African countries.

General elections were due to be held for the Legislative Council in Nyasaland on 28 April 1964, and would have been the first in the country under universal suffrage. However, there were no opposition candidates to either the Malawi Congress Party in the general roll seats (the Nyasaland Asian Convention had dissolved itself and declared its support for the MCP), or the Nyasaland Constitutional Party in the special roll seats, resulting in all 53 candidates winning without votes being cast.

MCP leader Hastings Banda remained Prime Minister, leading the country to independence as Malawi on 6 July. Banda spent the next few years consolidating his power. By 1966 the MCP was the only legally permitted party and by 1971 Banda had made himself president for life. The MCP would remain the only legal party until 1993, eventually losing power in the first multiparty post-independence elections in 1994.

A referendum on reintroducing multi-party democracy was held in Malawi on 14 June 1993. It asked voters to decide whether Malawi would remain a single-party state or transition to a multiparty democracy. The country had been governed by the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) since independence in 1964, with Hastings Kamuzu Banda serving as President for Life from 1971.

Banda agreed to hold the referendum in response to international pressure and growing domestic unrest. Opposition groups had initially doubted the legitimacy of the process, but eventually participated once they were allowed to register as “special interest groups” and after a series of discussions led to an agreed legal framework. Major opposition participants included the Catholic and Presbyterian Churches, the United Democratic Front (representing internal opponents and dissident government officials), and the Alliance for Democracy (linked to trade unions and opposition groups in exile).