The 2022 general election in Malta : towards a “one and a half party” system?

Abstract

The 2022 national elections in Malta led to the third consecutive victory of the Labour Party. The election can be considered one of many firsts. It was the first general election in which 16-year-olds were allowed to vote. The 2022 national election was also the first time the Gender Balance Mechanism was used. More importantly, the election was the first election as party leaders for Bernard Grech from the Nationalist Party and Robert Abela from the Labour Party. While the outcome of the election was widely known, there were numerous questions over whether the Opposition would be able to decrease the gap between the two parties. The incumbent Labour administration was shaken by several issues, including the Panama Papers revelations, the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the resignation in disgrace of former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. Despite this, the party remained relatively popular even when Muscat was replaced by his less-charismatic successor Robert Abela. The gap between the main political parties continued to widen, though the party fell short of winning a two-thirds majority, enabling it to change the Constitution. Whilst the election took place during the Covid-19 pandemic and in the initial days of the war between Ukraine and Russia, national issues dominated the political campaigns, thus making it somewhat unrealistic. With the Labour Party increasing its share of votes against the Nationalist Party, this paper will discuss whether the two party-system still exists and whether the eventual result points to permanent changes in the structure of the Maltese near-perfect two-party system.