Малавидегі Біріккен Демократиялық Фронт саяси партиясы

Political party in Malawi

The United Democratic Front is a political party in Malawi founded in 1992 by Bakili Muluzi. It claims to be a liberal party in Malawi and is mainly strong in the southern region populated by ethnic Yao. Bakili Muluzi was President of Malawi from 1994 to 2004.

The United Democratic Front is a prominent political party in Malawi that was founded in 1992 by Bakili Muluzi. Until 2009 the party was a member of Liberal International, which it joined at the latter's Reykjavík Congress in 1994.

It came into power in 1994 under Bakili Muluzi; he was in power until 2004, serving two terms. It continued in power under Bingu wa Mutharika; however Muluzi remained the head of the party. After succeeding Muluzi, Mutharika came into conflict with much of the party, including Muluzi, and he left the party in February 2005 to form the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). In 2009, it was the DPP which won the election. This led to mass defections from the UDF to the ruling DPP. The party however, continued to restructure.

In 1994, the UDF candidate Bakili Muluzi came to power in Malawi. In the general election held on 20 May 2004, the UDF's candidate for president, Bingu wa Mutharika, won 35.9% of the vote and was elected. The party also won 49 out of 194 seats. On 24 April 2008, a UDF convention, which included 2,000 delegates, chose Muluzi as the party's 2009 presidential candidate, despite questions about his eligibility due to term limits. He received 1,950 votes at the convention against 38 for Vice President Cassim Chilumpha.

ElectionParty candidateVotes%Result1994Bakili Muluzi1,404,75447.15%Elected 19992,442,68545.21%Elected 2004Bingu wa Mutharika1,195,58635.97%Elected 2014Atupele Muluzi717,22413.7%Lost 2019 235,1644.67%Lost

ElectionParty leaderVotes%Seats+/–Position1994Bakili Muluzi1,375,87846.53% 85 1st19992,124,99947.32% 8 1st2004801,20025.34% 44 1st2009562,02512.92% 32 3rd2014Atupele Muluzi496,7659.63% 3 4th2019 227,3354.58% 4 3rd