Nyasaland Emergency 1959 unwilling to release most of the detainees. The Malawi Congress Party was formed as the successor to the banned Nyasaland African Congress by Orton Chirwa after his release from detention in August 1959 as interim President, although he acknowledged Banda as the party's true leader, a position that Banda assumed on his own release and return to Nyasaland. Those other African politicians that had put themselves forward as moderate alternatives to Banda were, Armitage himself admitted, not credible and without influence. Armitage's hopes of negotiating with Orton Chirwa instead of Banda were dashed when Chirwa said that only Banda had
Nyasaland Association to the 1956 general elections, it campaigned on a platform to "protect and foster the interests of Europeans in Nyasaland and to further the economic development of the territory". It also called for the constitution to remain unchanged for a year after the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was finalised, as well as seeking further land for European settlement. The party was widely regarded as a political vehicle for Michael Hill Blackwood. On 13 January 1956 the party announced that it had agreed on six candidates for the six non-African seats up for election. However, two candidates (F G Collins