List of heads of state of Malawi

This is a list of the heads of state of Malawi, from the independence of Malawi in 1964 to the present day.

From 1964 to 1966 the head of state under the Constitution of 1964 was the queen of Malawi, Elizabeth II, who was also the monarch of other Commonwealth realms. The monarch was represented in Malawi by a governor-general. Malawi became a republic within the Commonwealth under the Constitution of 1966 and the monarch and governor-general were replaced by an executive president.

Monarch (1964–1966)

The succession to the throne was the same as the succession to the British throne.

Template:Abbr	Portrait	Name Template:Small	Reign			Royal House	Prime Minister
			Reign start	Reign end	Duration
1		[[Elizabeth II|Template:Small Elizabeth II]] Template:Small	Template:Nowrap 1964	Template:Nowrap 1966	Template:Age in years years	Windsor	Banda

Governor-general

Governor-General's standard

The governor-general was the representative of the monarch in Malawi and exercised most of the powers of the monarch. The governor-general was appointed for an indefinite term, serving at the pleasure of the monarch. Since Malawi was granted independence by the Malawi Independence Act 1964, rather than being first established as a semi-autonomous dominion and later promoted to independence as defined by the Statute of Westminster 1931, the governor-general was to be always appointed solely on the advice of the Cabinet of Malawi without the involvement of the British government. As Malawi became a republic before Glyn Jones, the former colonial governor, was replaced, this never happened. In the event of a vacancy the chief justice would have served as the officer administering the government.

Template:Abbr	Portrait	Name Template:Small	Term of office			Monarch	Prime Minister
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		[[Glyn Jones (colonial administrator)|Template:Small Glyn Jones]] Template:Small	Template:Nowrap 1964	Template:Nowrap 1966	Template:Age in years years	Elizabeth II	Banda

Republic (1966–present)

Presidential standard

Under the country's 1966, 1994 and 1995 constitutions, the president is executive head of state.

The first president, Hastings Banda, was elected by the National Assembly and subsequently had himself declared president for life in 1970. He was defeated in 1994, a year after his life term was abolished as part of Malawi's transition to democracy. Since then, presidents have been elected in direct popular elections for a five-year term. Presidents may be elected any number of times, but not more than twice in a row. In the event of a vacancy, the vice-president becomes president for the balance of the term.

Political parties

Symbols

Template:Note label Died in office

Template:Abbr	Portrait	Name Template:Small	Elected	Term of office			Political party
				Took office	Left office	Time in office
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" | 1		Hastings Banda Template:Small Template:Efn	—	Template:Nowrap 1966	Template:Nowrap 1994	Template:Ayd	MCP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:black;"| 2		Bakili Muluzi Template:Small	1994 1999	Template:Nowrap 1994	Template:Nowrap 2004	Template:Age in years years	UDF
style="background: linear-gradient(Template:Party color 14%, Template:Party color 14%); color:white;" | 3		Bingu wa Mutharika Template:Small	2004 2009	Template:Nowrap 2004	Template:Nowrap 2012Template:Ref label	Template:Ayd	UDF Template:Small DPP Template:Small
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 4		Joyce Banda Template:Small	—	Template:Nowrap 2012	Template:Nowrap 2014	Template:Ayd	PP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 5		Peter Mutharika Template:Small	2014 2019	Template:Nowrap 2014	Template:Nowrap 2020	Template:Ayd	DPP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 6		Lazarus Chakwera Template:Small	2020	Template:Nowrap 2020	Template:Nowrap 2025	Template:Ayd	MCP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| Template:Small		Peter Mutharika Template:Small	2025	Template:Nowrap 2025	Incumbent	Template:Ayd	DPP

Timeline since 1966

<timeline> ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:21 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:150 left:20 AlignBars = late

Define $today = {{#time:d/m/Y}}

Colors =

 id:mcp value:rgb(1,0,0)           legend:Malawi_Congress_Party
 id:udf value:rgb(1,0.87,0)        legend:United_Democratic_Front
 id:dpp value:rgb(0.0,0.525,0.796) legend:Democratic_Progressive_Party
 id:pp  value:rgb(1,0.50,0)        legend:People's_Party

 id:gray1  value:gray(0.85)
 id:gray2  value:gray(0.95)

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1966 till:31/12/{{#expr:{{#time:Y}}+1}} TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = gridcolor:gray1 unit:year increment:5 start:1970 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:gray2 unit:year increment:1 start:1966

Legend = columns:1 left:150 top:35 columnwidth:170

TextData =

 pos:(20,38) textcolor:black fontsize:M
 text:"Political party:"

BarData =

bar:H_Banda
bar:Muluzi
bar:B_Mutharika
bar:J_Banda
bar:P_Mutharika
bar:Chakwera

PlotData =

 width:5 align:left fontsize:9 shift:(5,-4) anchor:till

bar:H_Banda
 from: 06/07/1966 till: 24/05/1994 color:mcp text:"Hastings Banda"
bar:Muluzi
 from: 24/05/1994 till: 24/05/2004 color:udf text:"Bakili Muluzi"
bar:B_Mutharika
 from: 24/05/2004 till: 01/02/2005 color:udf
 from: 01/02/2005 till: 05/04/2012 color:dpp text:"Bingu wa Mutharika"
bar:J_Banda
 from: 07/04/2012 till: 31/05/2014 color:pp  text:"Joyce Banda"
bar:P_Mutharika
 from: 31/05/2014 till: 28/06/2020 color:dpp
 from: 04/10/2025 till: $today     color:dpp text:"Peter Mutharika"
bar:Chakwera
 from: 28/06/2020 till: 04/10/2025 color:mcp text:"Lazarus Chakwera"

</timeline>

External links

• World Statesmen – Malawi
• Rulers.org – Malawi