Malawi's Vice-President Joyce Banda has been sworn in as president following the death of Bingu wa Mutharika.

马拉维总统宾古·瓦·穆塔里卡死后，副总统乔伊丝·班达宣誓就职。

She becomes southern Africa's first female head of state after taking the oath before parliament in the Malawian capital, Lilongwe.

Ms Banda, who had been vice-president since 2009, was cheered and applauded before, during and after the ceremony.

Mr Mutharika, 78, went into cardiac arrest（心搏停止） on Thursday, although his death was not confirmed until Saturday.

The delay in announcing his death had prompted fears of a power struggle.

There had been speculation¹ that the late president's inner circle was trying to circumvent²（包围，陷害） Malawi's constitution to prevent Ms Banda from taking over and instead install his brother, Foreign Minister Peter Mutharika.

Ms Banda had fallen out with Mr Mutharika in 2010 and became one of his fiercest critics. She was expelled from the ruling Democratic People's Party (DPP) and formed the People's Party.

She was elected as vice-president in 2009 and Mr Mutharika had failed in his attempts to have her removed from her post.

In taking the oath of office, Ms Banda pledged to "defend and preserve the constitution" and to do right to all manner of people, according to law.

She then asked parliament to stand for two minutes' silence as a tribute to Mr Mutharika.

Asking Malawians to "focus on mourning our father," Ms Banda added: "It is with a great sense of humility³ and honour that I accept the huge responsibility of that the people of Malawi have entrusted⁴ me with."

At present, there are just a handful of MPs in her party but the BBC's Raphael Tenthani in Blantyre says many more are likely to join now that she is president.

On Friday, Information Minister Patricia Kaliati had said Ms Banda could not take over as head of state because she had gone into opposition⁵. The UK, the US and the EU all called on Malawi to respect its constitution.