Politics

The politics of Malta takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Malta is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. Since Independence the party system has been dominated by the Christian Democratic Nationalist Party (Partit Nazzjonalista) and the Social Democratic Malta Labour Party (Partit Laburista).

Executive Branch

Under its 1964 constitution, Malta became a parliamentary democracy within the Commonwealth. Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom was sovereign of Malta, and a Governor-General exercised executive authority on her behalf, while the actual direction and control of the government and the nation's affairs were in the hands of the cabinet under the leadership of a Maltese prime minister.

On December 13, 1974, the constitution was revised, and Malta became a republic within the Commonwealth, with executive authority vested in the President of Malta. The president is elected by the House of Representatives for a five-year term. The president appoints as Prime Minister the leader of the party with a majority of seats in the unicameral House of Representatives, known in Maltese as Kamra tar-Rapprezentanti.

The President also nominally appoints, upon recommendation of the Prime Minister, the individual ministers. Ministers are selected from among the members of the House of Representatives, which usually consists of 65 members unless bonus seats are given to a party which gains an absolute majority of votes but not a Parliamentary majority. Elections must be held at least every 5 years and the electoral system used is single transferable vote.

Legislative Branch

The House of Representatives (Il-Kamra tar-Raprezentanti) has 65 members, elected for a five year term in 13 multi-seat constituencies (each returning 5 MPs) with a possibility of rewarding bonus members for the popular largest party which doesn't succeed in getting absolute majority in parliament.

Judicial Branch

Malta's judiciary is independent. The President, on the advice of the Prime Minister, appoints the chief justice and 16 judges. Their mandatory retirement age is 65. There is a civil court, a commercial court, and a criminal court. In the latter, the presiding judge sits with a jury of nine. The court of appeal hears appeals from decisions of the civil court and of the commercial court. The court of criminal appeal hears appeals from judgments of conviction by the criminal court. The highest court, the Constitutional Court, hears appeals in cases involving violations of human rights, interpretation of the constitution, and invalidity of laws. It also has jurisdiction in cases concerning disputed parliamentary elections and electoral corrupt practices. There also are inferior courts presided over by a magistrate.

Political Developments

Two parties dominate Malta's polarized and evenly divided politics: the Nationalist Party - Partit Nazzjonalista - led by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, and the Malta Labour Party - Partit Laburista - led by Alfred Sant. Elections invariably generate a widespread voter turnout exceeding 90% of registered voters. Prior to the May 1987 election, the Maltese constitution was amended to ensure that the party that obtained more than 50% of the popular vote would have a majority of seats in parliament and would thereby form the government. The then Labour Party government proposed this constitutional amendment in exchange for Nationalist Party (in opposition at the time) agreeing to entrenching neutrality and non-alignment in the Constitution.

A significant development since independence has been the failure on the part of third parties to score electoral success. In the last election 2003 the Democratic Alternative (a Green Party established in 1989) managed to secure only 0.7% of the first preference votes nationwide.

General Elections

Elections in Malta are based on the single transferable vote system, which is a variant of the proportional representation electoral system.

The 1996 elections resulted in the election of the Labour Party by 8,000 votes to replace the Nationalists who had won in 1987 and 1992. Voter turnout was characteristically high at 96% with the Labour Party receiving 50.72%, the Nationalist Party 47.8%, the Democratic Alternative 1.46%, and independent candidates 0.02%. In 1998 the Labour Party lost a parliamentary vote, leading the Prime Minister to call an early election. The Nationalist Party was returned to office in September 1998 by a majority of 13,000 votes, holding a five-seat majority in Parliament. Voter turnout was 95%, with the Nationalist Party receiving 51.81%, the Labour Party 46.97%, the Democratic Alternative 1.21%, and independent candidates 0.01%.

The Nationalist government wrapped up negotiations for European Union membership by the end of 2002. A referendum on the issue was called in March 2003 for which the Nationalists and the Democratic Alternative asked for a "yes" vote while Labour asked its supporters to vote "no", invalidate their vote or abstain. Turnout was 91% with more than 53% voting "yes".

The Labour Party argued that the "yes" votes amounted to less than 50% of the overall votes, hence, and citing the Integration referendum as an example, they claimed that the "yes" hadn't in fact won the referendum. Parliament was eventually dissolved and fresh elections were called as a final word on the matter. The Nationalists were returned to office with 51.79% of the vote to Labour's 47.51%. The Democratic Alternative managed 0.68%. The Nationalists were thus able to form a government and sign and ratify the EU Accession Treaty.

Military

The objectives of the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) are to maintain a military organisation with the primary aim of defending the Islands' integrity according to the defence roles as set by Government in an efficient and cost effective manner. This it does by emphasizing on the maintenance of Malta's territorial waters and airspace integrity.

The AFM is also devoted to combating terrorism, fighting against illicit drug trafficking, conducting anti-illegal immigrant and anti-illegal fishing operations, operating Search and Rescue (SAR) services, and physical/electronic security/surveillance of sensitive locations. Malta's Search and Rescue area extends from east of Tunisia to west of Crete covering an area of around 250,000 sq km.

As a military organisation, the AFM also provides backup support to the Malta Police Force and other Government Departments/Agencies in situations as required in an organised, disciplined manner in the event of national emergencies (such as natural disasters) or internal security and bomb disposal.

On another level, the AFM establishes and/or consolidates bilateral co-operation with other countries to reach higher operational effectiveness related to AFM roles.