General elections were due to be held for the Legislative Council in Nyasaland

Nyasaland

Nyasaland or the Nyasaland Protectorate, was a British protectorate located in Africa, which was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Since 1964, it has been known as Malawi....

 in August 1961. There were two voter rolls, a general roll for the black population that elected 50 members, and a special roll for white voters that elected three members. 1,871,790 people were registered on the general roll, whilst only 814 were on the special roll. However, there were no opposition candidates to either the Malawi Congress Party

Malawi Congress Party

The Malawi Congress Party is a political party in Malawi.It was the successor to the Nyasaland African Congress , which was banned in 1959.The MCP was founded by Hastings Banda and other NAC leaders in 1960....

 in the general roll seats (the Nyasaland Asian Convention had dissolved itself declared its support for the MCP), or the Nyasaland Constitutional Party in the special roll seats, resulting in all 53 candidates winning without votes being cast.

MCP leader Hastings Banda

Hastings Banda

Hastings Kamuzu Banda was the leader of Malawi and its predecessor state, Nyasaland, from 1961 to 1994. After receiving much of his education overseas, Banda returned to his home country to speak against colonialism and advocate for independence...

 remained as Prime Minister, leading it to independence on 6 July that year.

Results

Party	General roll seats	Special roll seats	Total seats
Malawi Congress Party Malawi Congress Party The Malawi Congress Party is a political party in Malawi.It was the successor to the Nyasaland African Congress , which was banned in 1959.The MCP was founded by Hastings Banda and other NAC leaders in 1960....	50	0	50
Nyasaland Constitutional Party	0	3	3
Total	50	3	53
Source: EISA