The general elections held in Malawi on 16 September 2025 resulted in a decisive victory for former President Arthur Peter Mutharika and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Concerning women’s representation, the polls brought both progress, with the election of Dr Jane Ansah as Vice President, and a decrease in the number of women elected to the National Assembly.
The presidential, parliamentary, and local government elections were held across Malawi on 16 September 2025. The vote was set against a challenging political and economic landscape defined by acute public discontent. This frustration was driven by severe economic challenges, including an inflation rate of 33%, persistent fuel shortages, and widespread poverty, with nearly three-quarters of Malawians living below the $3 a day poverty line.
The results marked a political shift. Former President Arthur Peter Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the presidency with 56.8% of the vote, defeating the incumbent, Dr Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), who received 33%. Malawi's President is elected via a two-round system, which requires a candidate to secure an absolute majority of 50% plus one vote to win in the first round. This is a rule imposed by a landmark judicial ruling that annulled the 2019 presidential election results due to “widespread, systematic, and grave irregularities”.
The parliamentary elections produced a hung parliament. The DPP secured 78 seats, while independents won 73, forming a powerful new bloc. The incumbent MCP won 52 seats, and the United Transformation Movement (UTM) took 8.
Women’s Political Participation
In the 2025 general elections, a total of 48 women were elected to the newly expanded 224-seat National Assembly, constituting 21.4% of the members in filled seats. It represents a decrease from the 22.9% achieved in the 2019 elections, when 44 women were elected to a 193-seat assembly. Although the absolute number of women MPs increased, the expansion of the National Assembly's total seats meant their overall percentage share declined.
A total of 326 women contested parliamentary seats, representing 21.9% of all candidates who stood for election. At the executive level, former President Joyce Banda was the only woman among 17 presidential candidates. However, the election of Dr Jane Ansah as Vice President represents a landmark success and a highly visible achievement for women in Malawian politics.
Legislative and policy reforms on women’s rights
Malawi's legal and policy framework provides a foundation for women's political rights. The 1994 Constitution guarantees gender equality and non-discrimination, and universal women's suffrage, the right to both vote and stand for election, was established at independence in 1964. Institutionally, the Parliamentary Women's Caucus of Malawi has existed since 2002, providing a formal mechanism for cooperation among women parliamentarians across party lines.
While Malawi lacks a gender quota to mandate women’s representation, some political parties have adopted voluntary internal quotas. Notably, the Malawi Congress Party has a 33% quota, and the United Democratic Front has a 25% quota.
Challenges to Women's Participation
Despite this supportive framework, women candidates face formidable and persistent systemic obstacles that inhibit their full and equal participation in the political process. In 2017, the Malawi Law Commission made a proposal to adopt temporary special measures "such as new district-wide parliamentary constituencies, within each district, reserved exclusively for women, to promote their political participation." Malawi has yet to adopt a gender quota.
The high cost of contesting elections remains a primary deterrent. Nomination fees are described as "excessive" in a country with high poverty levels. Although fees for women candidates in parliamentary and local elections were halved, this measure had minimal impact. Broader structural financial constraints continue to disadvantage women, who are often excluded from the patronage networks and capital accumulation opportunities that finance political careers.
The European Union Electoral Observation Mission (EU-EOM) identified some instances of online gender-based violence and harassment directed at women candidates and journalists, primarily within the comment sections of Facebook posts, although these were not related to the main parties’ official pages. Whilst they noted that the “scale of online harassment remained low in this electoral cycle, interlocutors expressed concern about its chilling effect on women’s participation in public life.”
Deeply ingrained cultural norms and biases that view leadership as a male domain persist. These attitudes are reflected within political parties, which are largely controlled by male-dominated networks. This "party gatekeeping" systematically limits opportunities for women to secure nominations and access the resources needed to run effective campaigns.
Moreover, there is a significant divergence between public attitudes toward women’s leadership and the actual political outcomes. According to a 2025 report from the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, public perception of female leadership in Malawi has improved dramatically over the last decade, showing a positive change of +40.9 points. In stark contrast, the actual percentage of women in parliament has declined over the same period. This paradox highlights a critical disconnect between growing societal acceptance of women as leaders and the failure of institutional and political structures to translate this support into tangible electoral results.
Substantively, during the campaign, gender issues were scarcely addressed in party manifestos, debates, or agendas, “leading to disappointment among many who had hoped for stronger commitments”. This complex reality, where a symbolic breakthrough in the executive branch coincides with systemic barriers and legislative backsliding, necessitates a critical evaluation of the path to substantive gender equality in Malawian politics.
Conclusion
In the 2025 general elections, former President Arthur Peter Mutharika and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won. The polls resulted in a slight but notable decrease in the percentage of women Members of Parliament, which fell to 21.4%. Former President Joyce Banda was the sole woman contender among the 17 presidential candidates. A landmark achievement was the election of Dr Jane Ansah as Vice President on the winning ticket, a significant step for women in executive leadership.
The 2025 elections showcased Malawi's democratic resilience, marked by a peaceful transfer of power in a period of significant economic distress. However, the polls also exposed persistent structural challenges that prevent the country from achieving full political inclusivity. For example, voluntary party quotas and fee reductions have proven insufficient to advance women’s representation in Malawi.