Next Maltese general election

Maltese general election

2008 ← members on or before 10 August 2013 → Next

All seats of the Maltese House of Representatives with additional seats to ensure proportional representation.   Leader Lawrence Gonzi . Joseph Muscat Michael Briguglio . Party Nationalist Labour Democratic Alternative Leader since 23 March 2004 6 June 2008 31 October 2009 Last election 35 seats, 49.34% 34 seats, 48.79% 0 seat, 1.31%

Incumbent Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi Nationalist

The next Maltese general election must take place by 2013 at the latest.

Conditions

In all likelihood the election will be held under the same general constitutional conditions as the previous general election of 2008. The system of voting will be proportional representation through modified single transferable vote where five MPs will be returned from each of thirteen districts.

There will be some changes though, most significantly the possibility of early voting for absentee voters which was introduced in time for the European Parliament election of 2009.

Other possible changes include changes in the boundaries of constituencies following a re-districting exercise, the application of a law regulating political party funding and the use of new identity cards instead of the voting document.

Date

The Constitution requires that the Maltese House of Representatives be dissolved within five years from its first sitting and that the election take place not later than three months after the dissolution. As the first sitting of the current parliament was held on 10 May 2008 the election will therefore be held no later than 10 August 2013. The election must be held on a Saturday.

It is unlikely, however, that the election be held in the summer or that the electoral campaign (from the dissolution of Parliament to election day) would be longer than five weeks as has been the case since the general election of 1992.

Contestants

The main political parties to contest will be the Nationalist Party currently in office and led by Lawrence Gonzi and the Labour Party led by Joseph Muscat for whom this would be the first general election at the helm of the party.

The other contestant will be the Democratic Alternative which will seek to elect its first MP. The National Action, which stood candidates in the 2008 general election and 2009 European Parliament election, is not expected to contest this election.