Winning an election in Malta: from the simple to the complicated

Who wins the election?

It’s pretty simple really – the party with the most votes wins the election and gets to form a government. But it may get complicated if more than two parties elect MPs or an independent manages to slip through.

What do you mean ‘complicated’?

Malta’s electoral system has produced some quirky results in the past since the party that gets the most votes does not necessarily get the most parliamentary seats.

This changed in 2007 when the Constitution was amended to ensure that the number of seats a political party occupies in parliament is proportional to the number of votes it gets in the election.

In the 2013 election the Labour Party obtained 39 seats while the Nationalist Party obtained 26 seats after the vote counting exercise ended. However, the proportion of seats won by the PL overstated the party’s electoral strength while the PN’s seat tally understated its vote.

According to the constitutional mechanism the PN was awarded four extra seats to bring the parliamentary balance closer to the election result. A similar situation happened in the 2017 election when the PN was awarded two extra seats.

And so, where is the complication?

The 2007 mechanism only applies if two parties are elected to parliament or, in a scenario where more than two parties are represented in parliament, one of them has an absolute majority.

What is an absolute majority?

An absolute majority is when a political party obtains over 50% of first-count votes… even if it is just one vote more than the halfway mark.

But what happens if two parties are elected to parliament and none obtain an absolute majority of votes?

The party with the most votes, even though it enjoys a relative majority, is the winner. This happened in 2008 when the Nationalist Party won the election with a relative majority of 49.3% against the Labour Party’s 48.8%.

However, since the PN ended up with 31 seats against Labour’s 34 seats, the proportionality mechanism kicked in and awarded four extra seats to the PN. This gave the PN a one-seat majority.

And if MPs from three political parties are elected?

If one of the parties has an absolute majority, it will be assured victory through the 2007 mechanism. But if none of the three parties obtains an absolute majority it is the number of seats obtained after the vote counting process is concluded that determines which party has the parliamentary numbers to govern. In this case, no extra seats are awarded.

And if an independent candidate is elected alongside MPs from the two major parties, what happens?

For all intents and purposes the independent candidate will be considered like any third-party candidate and the same principles apply.

Who wins in this case?

Well, the party with most seats will form a government if it has a parliamentary majority. But if the numbers do not add up, the parties will have to explore forming a coalition. This happened in 1951 and 1953.

And what is this fuss about women candidates?

It’s actually not a fuss but a reality that female representation in the Maltese parliament has not improved in 70 years. In 2021, parliament approved a new law that allows up to 12 extra seats to be awarded to the under-represented gender. However, this mechanism will only apply if two political parties are elected to parliament.

How will this work?

The new gender mechanism kicks in after the election process concludes and all MPs are known – even those elected in casual elections. The Electoral Commission determines if any gender representation falls below 40%. This is very likely to be women. In this case, extra seats are awarded to either side of the House to be filled by unelected women candidates in a bid to reach the 40% threshold. However, the extra seats are capped at 12 – six for either side.

Before we continue; what is a casual election?

Malta’s electoral law allows candidates to contest two electoral districts. If a candidate who contests two districts is elected from both, they will have to give up one district. A casual election takes place on the vacated district between unelected candidates on that district.

Back to the election of women. How are the ‘extra’ female seats awarded?

The unelected women candidates left standing at the last count will be automatically declared elect. This is similar to the manner by which the 2007 proportional representation mechanism works.

And if the 40% threshold is still not reached?

The Electoral Commission will draw up a rank order for each party of women candidates that would have been eliminated. The ranking will be based on the amount of votes each candidate would have received before being eliminated, calculated as a percentage of the district quota. The rest of the extra seats are filled by working down the list.

But what if there are no more women candidates to fill the extra seats?

If no more women candidates are available to fill the extra seats, the political parties can opt for co-option to make up the difference.

What happens if after the 12 extra seats are awarded women MPs still do not make up at least 40% of parliamentary representation?

No further adjustments will be done. The law caps the extra seats at 12 to avoid having the number of parliamentary seats explode unreasonably.

And what about gender-neutral candidates?

The law also makes provisions for these people. Any candidate, who officially adopts the X gender marker will be considered as being part of the under-represented sex and so eligible for the extra seats.

One last question. What is a co-option?

A co-option happens when a vacated parliamentary seat cannot be filled by a casual election or any other mechanism dictated at law. The party that has to fill the seat proposes the name of anyone it wants and parliament votes to co-opt that person into the House. This is the way that several MPs in the outgoing parliament were elected, including Opposition leader Bernard Grech and ministers Miriam Dalli and Clyde Caruana.