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Next Maltese general election

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Next Maltese general election
← 2022 By 2027
65+ seats in the House of Representatives
33+ seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
 
Leader Robert Abela Bernard Grech
Party Labour Nationalist
Last election 55.11%, 44 seats 42.12%, 35 seats
Current seats 43 seats 35 seats
Incumbent Prime Minister

Robert Abela
Labour



General elections will be held in Malta by 2027 to elect all members of the House of Representatives. The Labour Party, which had governed Malta since 2013, won a third term in the 2022 elections under Robert Abela. Shortly after the elections, Bernard Grech was re-elected unopposed for the leader of the Nationalist Party.

Background

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The previous election, which was held in March 2022, saw the Labour Party, which has governed the country since 2013, receive 55% of the popular vote and win 44 out of 79 seats in the House of Representatives.[1] Robert Abela, the Prime Minister of Malta and leader of the Labour Party since 2020, and his new cabinet were sworn in on 30 March 2022.[2] Bernard Grech, the leader of the Nationalist Party, was re-elected unopposed in May 2022.[3]

Electoral system

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MPs are elected from 13 five-seat constituencies by single transferable vote.[4] Candidates who pass the Hagenbach-Bischoff quota in the first round are elected, and any surplus votes transferred to the remaining candidates, who will be elected if this enables them to pass the quota.[4] The lowest ranked candidates are then eliminated one-by-one with their preferences transferred to other candidates, who are elected as they pass the quotient, until all five seats are filled.[5] If a party wins a majority of first preference votes but fails to achieve a parliamentary majority, they are awarded seats to ensure a one-seat majority, if they are one of only two parties to obtain seats.[5] Despite conducting elections under a proportional ranked preferential system, Malta has a stable two-party system, with only the Labour Party and Nationalist Party having a realistic chance of forming a government.[6][7] Prior to the 2017 election, when the Democratic Party won two seats while running in a joint list with the Nationalist Party, the last time a party other than the Labour Party or the Nationalist Party won seats was in 1962.[8][9]

In 2018, the government of Malta lowered the national voting age to 16.[10] During the 2017–2022 legislature a gender-corrective mechanism was introduced, with Article 52(A) of the Constitution stating that provides for up to 12 additional seats for unelected candidates from "the under-represented sex" in case one of both makes up less than 40% of the elected MPs.[11]

Political parties

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See also: List of political parties in Malta

The table below lists parties represented in the House of Representatives after the 2022 general election.

Name Ideology Political position Leader 2022 result
Votes (%) Seats
Labour Party (PL) Social democracy Centre-left Robert Abela 55.11%
44 / 79
Nationalist Party (PN) Christian democracy Centre-right Bernard Grech 41.74%
35 / 79

Pre-election composition

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Party Seats
Labour Party (PL) 43
Nationalist Party (PN) 35
Independent 1

Opinion polls

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Main article: Opinion polling for the next Maltese general election

References

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  1. ^ "General Election - 2022". 12 April 2022. Archived from the original on 12 April 2022.
  2. ^ "OFFICIAL: The new members of PM Robert Abela's Cabinet". tvmnews.mt. Archived from the original on 4 April 2022. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  3. ^ "Bernard Grech re-elected PN leader with over 80% votes". Times of Malta. 28 May 2022. Archived from the original on 2 June 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  4. ^ a b "How Malta Votes: An Overview - Malta Elections". University of Malta. Archived from the original on 8 March 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Malta, electoral system". Inter-Parliamentary Union. Archived from the original on 12 October 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  6. ^ Hirczy de Miño, Wolfgang; C. Lane, John (1999). Malta: STV in a two-party system. p. 17.
  7. ^ Cini, Michelle (2009). "A Divided Nation: Polarization and the Two-Party System in Malta". South European Society and Politics. 7 (1): 6–23. doi:10.1080/714004966. ISSN 1360-8746. S2CID 154269904. Archived from the original on 16 October 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  8. ^ Magro, Joseph (2018). Proposals for an improved Malta electoral system. Constitutional Reform of Malta. p. 44.
  9. ^ Elections in Europe: a data handbook. Dieter Nohlen, Philip Stöver (1 ed.). Baden-Baden, Germany: Nomos. 2010. p. 1302. ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7. OCLC 617565273. Archived from the original on 21 August 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2022.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  10. ^ "16-year-olds granted the vote in national elections". Times of Malta. 5 March 2018. Archived from the original on 26 March 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  11. ^ Abbas Shalan, Samira (28 March 2022). "Only 4 women elected, casual election results set to trigger gender mechanism". The Malta Independent. Archived from the original on 19 August 2022. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
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