Editing Politics of Malawi (section)

===Political parties===
Malawi is a [[Multi-party system|multi-party state system]] (see [[list of political parties in Malawi]]). Malawi began as a one-party state in 1964, with the MCP being the only party until 1993. A movement called the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) under the leadership of [[Chakufwa Chihana]] grew, calling for the end of [[Kamuzu Banda]]'s dictatorship.<ref name="auto">[http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/docs/1957.pdf Sources] odi.org.uk {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426184951/http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/docs/1957.pdf |date=26 April 2012 }}</ref> Due to this internal and external pressure Banda agreed to hold a national [[Malawian democracy referendum, 1993|referendum in 1993]] where the nation voted to become a multi-party state.<ref name="auto"/> AFORD became the first registered opposition political party, and other opposition parties formed thereafter.  The first multi-party elections occurred in [[Malawian general election, 1994|1994]] in which the UDF won votes as the first administration under a multi-party system under [[Bakili Muluzi]].<ref name="auto"/> Malawi is now a multi -party nation with 40 registered parties but only a few prominent ones.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nyasatimes.com/malawi/2011/10/28/malawi-parties-may-%E2%80%98mirror%E2%80%99-germany%E2%80%99s-pirates-to-enter-govt/ |title=Malawi parties may 'mirror' Germany's Pirates to enter govt &#124; Malawi news, Malawi - NyasaTimes breaking online news source from Malawi |access-date=2012-04-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120101085933/http://www.nyasatimes.com/malawi/2011/10/28/malawi-parties-may-%E2%80%98mirror%E2%80%99-germany%E2%80%99s-pirates-to-enter-govt/ |archive-date=2012-01-01 }}</ref>