The 1998 dissolution of parliament

Abstract

The presidency of H.E., Dr. Ugo Mifsud Bonnici, the Fourth President of Malta, had a number of institutional 'firsts'. One can mention that the President was the first to preside over the workings of the Commission for the Administration of Justice set up by Article 101 A of the Constitution. He was the first President to address presidential messages to Parliament. The President was the first to dissolve Parliament twice during his term of office, in 1996 and in 1998. More significantly, he was the first Head of State, since Independence to preside over a political crisis involving the loss of confidence of a government by Parliament. This article purports to review some of the constitutional implications in regard to the dissolution of Parliament in 1998 as well as the vote of confidence that led to the dissolution. Our constitution, in its 34 years of existence has started to evolve its own conventions and practices, understood in their classic constitutional formulation as rules of political practice considered as binding but not enforceable in a Court of Law. The institutional workings behind the withdrawal of confidence by Parliament, the first instance since Independence, bears an interest beyond the political contingency, and may therefore serve as a guideline for future events.