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Malta Business Review
ELECTIONS 2017
Maltese general election 2017
General elections will be held in Malta on Saturday, 3 June 2017. The elections will be contested by the Labour, led by Prime
Minister Joseph Muscat, the Nationalist Party, led by opposition leader Simon Busuttil, and four other parties and will see
the most parties fielding candidates since 1962
3 June 2017
Participating parties
The Maltese political landscape is regarded
as one of the most pure two-party systems
of the 21st century, and has been dominated
by moderate centre-left and centre-right
groups for decades; no third parties have
elected MPs since the 1962 election. Six
parties are expected to field candidates in the
2018 election, the first time since 1962 that
Maltese voters will have that many parties on
the ballot:
Nationalist Party implying that
Joseph Muscat let the country down
Malta Business Review
Background
The previous general elections were held on
Saturday, 9 March 2013. The Labour Party,
led by Muscat, defeated the incumbent
Nationalist Party of Lawrence Gonzi in a
landslide victory, taking 39 seats in the
House of Representatives, against 30 for the
Nationalist Party. However, on 5 February
2015 the Constitutional Court ordered two
additional seats to be given to the Nationalist
Party. The Labour Party lost a further seat
when Marlene Farrugia resigned from the
Labour parliamentary group, later forming
the Democratic Party.
Muscat was sworn in as the new Prime
Minister on 11 March. The cabinet of 15
ministers was the largest cabinet in Maltese
history. This record was again surpassed
when Muscat announced a cabinet reshuffle
following the appearance of Minister Konrad
Mizzi's name in the Panama Papers; the new
cabinet featured 16 ministers as well as the
Prime Minister. Mizzi was included in the new
cabinet as Minister within the Office of the
Prime Minister.
Prior to the 2013 elections, Muscat had
pledged that the size of his Cabinet would
never exceed the size of the largest Cabinet
of the Fenech Adami administrations, the
largest of which consisted of 13 ministers.
Following their defeat, Gonzi stepped down
as leader of the Nationalists, with Simon
Busuttil taking his place on 13 May. As of
2016, Busuttil contesting as the Nationalist
candidate as potential prime minister in the
next election.
The Labour Party (PL) of incumbent Prime
Minister Joseph Muscat held a majority in
the legislature since the 2013 election, with
38 MPs at dissolution. The Labour Party
traditionally pursues social democratic ideals,
and is rooted in the mainstream European
centre-left.
The Nationalist Party (PN) of opposition leader
Simon Busuttil is the major opposition party
in parliament, with 29 MPs at dissolution.
The party's last prime minister was Lawrence
Gonzi, who also served as prime minister from
2004 to 2013. For much of its history, the PN
has embraced conservatism and Christian
democracy, as well as European integration.
The Democratic Party (PD) which was
founded when Labour MP Marlene Farrugia
left her party on 4 June 2016. It had 1 MP
(Farrugia herself) at dissolution. Under a
coalition agreement announced on 28 April
2017 PD candidates will contest the election
as Nationalist candidates, with the additional
descriptor "tal-orange", and any elected PD
members would participate in a potential
Nationalist-led government.The Democratic
Alternative (AD), led by Arnold Cassola since
2013, is the most successful contemporary
third party in Malta. It is, however, not
represented in parliament. Originally an
Opinion Poll
Labour Party poster implying that Simon Busuttil
and Marlene Farrugia disagree on proposals
offshoot from the Labour Party in 1989, the
party stresses green politics and sustainable
development. Moviment Patrijotti Maltin
(MPM), an offshoot of the anti-immigration
group Għaqda Patrijotti Maltin led by Henry
Battistino which campaigns against illegal
immigration, Malta's participation in the
Schengen Area, and Islam in Malta.
Alleanza Bidla (AB), a conservative Christian
and Eurosceptic party led by Ivan Grech
Mintoff.
Electoral system
The Maltese voting system is a variant of
proportional representation, achieved
through the use of the single transferable
vote, with five MPs to be returned from each
of thirteen districts. Overall, there are 65
constituency seats, with a variable number of
at-large seats added to ensure that the overall
first-preference votes are reflected in the
composition of the House of Representatives.
Creditline: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia MBR
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On 1 May 2017 Muscat announced a snap
election to take place on 3 June 2017. The
announcement was made during a May Dy
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