Hello again, my eager learners! Today we’ll take a look at the government of Malawi, and how it is similar and different from the United States’ government. To start, I know you’ve been learning about the three branches of government: the executive, the judicial, and the legislative. Malawi also has those three branches, and they work similarly to those in the U.S. government.
The executive branch is run by the president of Malawi. Just like in the U.S., the president is elected by the people of Malawi. Elections are held every five years here. Do you remember how often they are held in the U.S.? In the U.S., the president and vice president come from the same political party, and they run together to try to win. In Malawi, the vice president is the person who gets the second most votes for president, so the president and vice president have always been from different parties. Malawi has four to five main political parties, so having a president from one party and a vice president from another party forces the politicians to try to work together. In 2013, Malawi became the first country in Southern Africa to have a female president!
