Description of Electoral System:

(courtesy of IFES election guide)

The President is elected by the House of Representatives to serve a 5-year term. In the House of Representatives 65 members are elected by proportional representation to serve 5-year terms. Additional seats are given to the party with the largest popular vote to ensure a legislative majority.

Electoral Systems Snapshot

(Courtesy of International IDEA)

*Click on links for definitions

WANT MORE ELECTION RELATED STATS FOR MALTA? Go to "election databases" on the left-hand menu of this page OR comparative data on the right-hand menu and choose your area of interest.

Most Recent Elections

(courtesy of wikipedia)

The latest Maltese general election for the renewal of the Parliament of Malta was held on March 8, 2008. The incumbent prime minister Lawrence Gonzi, leader of the Christian Democratic Nationalist Party, narrowly won over Alfred Sant, leader of the Social Democratic Malta Labour Party. The election was held on the same day as the Maltese local council elections in 23 of the 68 Maltese local councils. The election was called on 4 February 2008.

Initial exit polls and statistics suggested very close results, and indeed the results narrowed as the count progressed. Preliminary results built on statistical projections from the major parties had been expected by around midday, but the extremely slim margin forced electoral officials to complete a full first count, rather than relying upon samples which were far too close to call. PN Secretary General Joe Saliba and MLP Deputy Leader Michael Falzon were directly involved in the statistical computations in the counting hall.

Just before 21:30, the General Secretary of the Nationalist Party, Joe Saliba, declared victory by a margin of 1,200 votes to the ecstatic jubilation of PN counting agents and supporters. MLP deputy leader Michael Falzon later conceded the defeat on March 10 at around 03:00.

Just under 2% of registered voters, 5,266 individuals, did not collect their voting documents, so less than 310,000 people were eligible to vote on 8th March. In total, voter turnout was 93%, the lowest in Malta since 1971. Official results issued on the basis of first count votes, showed the Nationalist Party leading the Malta Labour Party, with actual votes being distributed 49.33% to 48.9%, thus giving a lead to the PN of 1,580 votes.

While the PN won the popular vote, they did not win a majority of MPs; the MLP got 34 seats and the PN only 31 seats. Following the election law, the popular vote winning party is thus assigned additional MPs (in this case, four seats) to ensure the party has a majority.

Four major political groups participated in this election: Alternattiva Demokratika (AD), Azzjoni Nazzjonali (AN), Malta Labour Party (MLP), and Partit Nazzjonalista (PN).

Previous Elections

(courtesy of wikipedia)

General elections were held in Malta on 12 April 2003. They were won by the Nationalist Party (Malta) on a pro-EU platform.