Next Maltese general election
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

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

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

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

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

Opinion polls

Party polling

It is not uncommon for the third largest party, AD+PD and other smaller parties to be grouped together in polls, or totally excluded.

Polling firm Fieldwork date Sample
size		 PL PN AD+PD Others Lead Not
voting[nb 1]		 Don't
know[nb 2]		 No
reply[nb 3]
MaltaToday 28 Nov–6 Dec 2023 650 47.3 43.1 9.6 4.2 30.2 – –
Esprimi/Times of Malta 14–26 Oct 2023 600 50.0 44.8 5.2 5.0 27.8
MaltaToday 25 Sep–4 Oct 2023 657 43.8 45.8 10.4 2.0 31
Independent 1–8 Sep 2023 1600 34.9 35.3 4.9 4.6 0.4 15.9 4.4
MaltaToday 10–20 Jul 2023 749 29.6 30.2 1.2 1.2 0.6 22.6 13.9
MaltaToday 10–19 May 2023 574 33.1 28.7 0.4 0.7 4.4 20.8 14.7
Esprimi/Times of Malta 9–16 Mar 2023 600 51.6 42.9 5.5 8.7 27.4 –
MaltaToday 3–10 Mar 2023 574 30.8 28.4 2.1 2.6 2.4 24.8 10.0
MaltaToday 24 Jan–1 Feb 2023 646 38.7 22.8 0.7 2.0 15.9 23.9 10.5
MaltaToday 22 Nov–1 Dec 2022 650 36.4 24.2 2.3 0.8 12.2 22.2 13.2
MaltaToday 13–30 Sep 2022 647 39.4 19.9 3.2 0.9 19.5 22.5 14.9
MaltaToday 6–14 Jul 2022 656 42.0 25.8 2.0 0.9 16.2 14.5 14.1
MaltaToday 16–25 May 2022 656 43.9 28.8 2.8 0.6 15.1 11.2 11.4
2022 general election 26 March 2022 – 45.8 34.7 1.3 1.3 11.1 14.4 – –

Leader trust

Polling firm Fieldwork date Sample
size		 Robert Abela Bernard Grech Sandra Gauci Neither Lead Don't
know
Esprimi/Times of Malta 14–26 Oct 2023 600 45.7 36.9 – – 8.8 –
MaltaToday 25 Sep–4 Oct 2023 657 39.2 20 40.9 1.7
Independent 1–8 Sep 2023 1600 36 27.1 7.8 29.1 6.9[nb 4]
MaltaToday 10–20 Jul 2023 749 39.2 26.8 – 33.3 5.9[nb 5] 0.7

Notes

  1. ↑ Excluded from calculation for the party percentages.
  2. ↑ Excluded from calculation for the party percentages.
  3. ↑ Excluded from calculation for the party percentages.
  4. ↑ Lead over non-voters, not PN
  5. ↑ Lead over non-voters, not PN

References

  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. 1 2 "How Malta Votes: An Overview - Malta Elections". University of Malta. Archived from the original on 8 March 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  5. 1 2 "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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