The 2008 Maltese general election : the tortoise and the hare

Abstract

On 8 March the Maltese returned the Nationalist Party (PN) to government for the third time running. The outcome was as novel as it was repetitive. For decades, Maltese elections have been characterised by highly polarised two-party contests, narrow margins of victory, and high voter turnout. This election was no different in those respects. However, it was the first time since parliamentary government began in 1921 that a party sustained its vote majority in three consecutive elections.1 At 0.5 per cent, the PN majority over its main rival, the Malta Labour Party (MLP), was the slimmest imaginable. And while a 93.3 per cent voter turnout is high by any other standard, for Malta it was the lowest since 1971.