Related documents
- Is amended by Political Parties (Amendment) Act, 2022
- Is commenced by Political Parties Act, 2018: Commencement
- Repeals Political Parties (Registration and Regulation) Act
Malawi
Political Parties Act, 2018
Act 1 of 2018
- Published in Malawi Gazette Supplement 1C on 2 February 2018
- Assented to on 24 January 2018
- Commenced on 1 December 2018 by Political Parties Act, 2018: Commencement
- [This is the version of this document as it was from 2 February 2018 to 3 February 2022.]
Part I – Preliminary
1. Short title and commencement
This Act may be cited as the Political Parties Act, 2018, and shall come into force on such date as the Minister shall appoint, by notice published in the Gazette.2. Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—"campaign material" means a political party’s or candidate’s manifesto, advertisement, billboard, posters, t/shirts, clothes, or other materials depicting colours regarding symbols and other designs of a political party or pictorial images of a candidate and includes materials that may be published as campaign materials and these include; a manifesto, advertisement, bill board, poster, booklet, pamphlet, leaflet, magazine, newspaper, t-shirt, clothes or other materials depicting a colour, symbol, picture or other design for a political party or a candidate;"candidate" means a person nominated to contest in a presidential, parliamentary or local government election, and includes an independent candidate as defined under the Parliamentary and Presidential Elections Act;[Cap. 2:01]"handouts" means transactions whereby political parties, bodies, candidates or any other person distribute private goods, cash, gifts and other items to a person as an enticement to vote for the political party or the candidate that shall not include matters or transactions specified in the Schedule;"member" means a person eligible to vote under any written law and whose name, address and signature arc entered in a register of members kept and maintained by that political party, but shall not include a mere sympathiser, follower or supporter of a political party whose name is not entered into the party’s register;"Minister" means the Minister, for the time being, responsible for justice;"office bearer" includes a leader of a political party;"political party" means a combination of persons who have constituted themselves for a political purpose and are registered as such under this Act; and"Registrar" means the Registrar of Political Parties appointed under section 5.Part II – General principles
3. General principles
Part III – The office of the Registrar
4. Establishment of the office of the Registrar
5. Appointment of the Registrar
6. Powers, functions and duties of the Registrar
7. Independence of the Registrar
The Registrar shall, in the exercise of his powers, functions and duties, be independent of the interference or direction of any other person or authority.8. Tenure of office of the Registrar
9. Funds for the Office of the Registrar
The funds of the Office of the Registrar shall consist of—10. Accounts
Part IV – Registration and deregistration of political parties
11. Register
12. Application for registration of a political party
13. Certificate of registration and its effect
14. Refusal to register
15. Review of refusal to register
A political party that is aggrieved by the decision of the Registrar made under section 14 may, within thirty days of receiving the notice of refusal, apply to the High Court, through an office bearer, for the review of the decision of the Registrar, and the High court may make such order as it thinks fit.16. Deregistration
17. Review of decision to deregister
18. Notice of change in registered particulars
19. Failure to notify changes
A political party which fails to comply with section 18 commits an offence and is liable to a fine of K10,000,000, and to a further fine of K500,000 for each day that the offence continues.20. Refusal to register amendments
Part V – Finances of political parties
21. Entitlement to State funding
22. Uses of State funding
23. Banking, accounts and audit in respect of State funding
24. Suspension of State funding
25. Closure of books and records of account upon dissolution of Parliament
Where Parliament is dissolved, a political party represented in Parliament shall—26. Power of Minister responsible for finance to give financial instructions
Subject to the Public Audit Act and the Public Finance Management Act, the Minister responsible for finance may issue written instructions for the better control and efficient management of funds provided to political parties under this Act.[Cap. 37:01; Cap 37:02]27. Private funding and receipt of donations
28. Separate bank account for private funding
A political party shall ensure that all donations received by the party under section 27 in the form of money are deposited into a separate bank account held in the name of the political party.29. Registration and declaration of assets
30. Auditing of private financing
31. Members' access to financial records
A political party shall, at least once every year, make available to its members all financial records of the party.Part VI – Rights and duties of political parties in elections
32. Right to participate in elections
33. Freedom of assembly
34. Freedom of expression
Part VII – Miscellaneous provisions
35. Inspection by the Registrar
The Registrar may, at any time after the registration of a political party, require the political party to submit to him any document issued or produced by it or in its name for any purpose and may at any reasonable time inspect and take or extract from copies of, or require an office bearer or employee of a political party to produce in readable form and provide him with, a copy of or extract from the record of the political party.36. Access to information received by the Registrar
Any person shall have the right of access to information received by the Registrar in the exercise of his functions under this Act.37. Onus of proof
Where a written law prohibits the doing of anything except by, or restricts the doing of anything to, a political party, the onus of proving that—38. False information, obstruction, etc., of the Registrar
A person who—39. Unauthorized distribution of inexact version of a political party constitution
40. Use of threats and violence against donors
Any person who—41. Prohibition of handouts
42. Prohibition of multiple membership to political parties
43. General penalty
44. Regulations
Part VIII – Repeal, savings and transitional provisions
45. Repeal and savings
46. Status of political parties already registered
Subject to section 48, any political party which, immediately prior to the commencement of this Act, was registered under the Political Parties (Registration and Regulation) Act repealed by section 45 shall be deemed to have been registered under this Act.[Cap 2:07]47. Saving of existing rights, powers, etc.
Any act done, and any power exercised or right acquired by any political party pursuant to the Political Parties (Registration and Regulation) Act repealed by section 45 shall not be invalid by virtue of that repeal only.[Cap 2:07]48. Compliance with this Act
History of this document
04 February 2022 amendment not yet applied
Amended by
Political Parties (Amendment) Act, 2022
01 December 2018
Commenced by
Political Parties Act, 2018: Commencement
02 February 2018 this version
Published in Malawi Gazette Supplement 1C
24 January 2018
Assented to
Cited documents 0
Documents citing this one 4
Gazette 2
1. | Malawi Government Gazette supplement dated 2018-02-02 number 1C | |
2. | Malawi Government Gazette supplement dated 2022-02-04 number 1C |
Judgment 2
Subsidiary legislation
Title
|
|
---|---|
Political Parties (Forms and Fees) Regulations, 2020 | Government Notice 101 of 2020 |