Elite Party Formation amid Fragmentation: The Case of Joyce Banda’s People’s Party in Malawi

Post-‘third wave’ Africanist literature has focused on the highly elitist characteristics of political parties that compete for power in electoral contexts, and the tendency of party systems towards instability and fragmentation as elite manoeuvrings and factionalism translate into ‘fissions and fusions’ in the party system itself. This article considers the case of the People’s Party (PP) in Malawi, founded in 2011 by Vice President (and later President) Joyce Banda. It argues that the party’s emergence is, on one level, a clear story of elite factionalism and party fragmentation, and the product of structural factors in the Malawian political system. It goes on to argue, however, that a marked tendency in the political environment towards party fragmentation does not in itself explain how and why certain parties form, why some leaders emerge to lead these parties, and how some lower-level members of the elite respond to possible defection opportunities. This is, therefore, also a story and case of party formation, not mere fragmentation. We analyse this formation at two levels. First, at the uppermost level of Joyce Banda and her political journey over decades, her rise through the ranks to obtain the position of vice president and to become a credible party leader and, ultimately, President of Malawi. Second, we analyse party formation at the lower tier of the political elite by analysing MPs’ defection narratives in order to consider the motivations and understandings of those making an active decision to join the PP. We find that a desire to stay in government, unhappiness with one’s current position and genuine admiration for Joyce Banda as a politician and leader all played a role in decisions to join and form the PP at the lower elite level.