General elections were held in
Malawi on 29 June 1978. As the country had become a
one-party state in 1966, the
Malawi Congress Party (MCP) was the sole legal party at the time. However, unlike the two previous elections, in which MCP leader and
president for lifeHastings Banda had selected a single candidate for each constituency, there was more than one nominated candidate in 47 of the 87 constituencies.[1] As a result, voting took place on election day for the first time since the
1961 elections in what was then the
British protectorate of
Nyasaland.
All prospective candidates were vetted by Banda after being nominated by MCP committees,[2] and had to declare their allegiance to Banda in order to be allowed to stand.[3] Candidates ran unopposed in 33 of the remaining seats, and seven were left vacant as the candidates failed the English proficiency test. Of the estimated 3,000,000 registered voters, around 371,000 cast votes.[1]