VALLETTA (dpa-AFX) – Prime Minister Robert Abela’s ruling Labor Party has won the parliamentary election in the smallest EU country, Malta. According to the official result, the Social Democrats, with 51.8 percent of the vote, have a lead of more than seven percentage points over the conservative Nationalist Party (44.7 percent). That’s a lead of more than 20,000 votes. Abela will be sworn in on Monday by President Myriam Spiteri Debono.
Just a few hours after counting began, Abela declared his victory. “We made history by winning for the fourth time in a row,” he said in a TV interview after initial results showed his party’s victory. Addressing supporters, Abela later said: “Let’s roll up our sleeves and continue working together and united to make Malta a better country for everyone.”
Big Labor celebrations in several places
Fireworks were set off in several places on the Mediterranean island, and numerous people dressed in the party color red gathered in front of the Labor party headquarters in the town of Hamrun. Many held up four fingers to celebrate Labor’s fourth consecutive election victory since 2013.
Opposition leader Alex Borg admitted defeat and said in a video message on social media that he had called Abela to wish him well. “The people have spoken and we must respect their will,” Borg said. This was not the result he wanted, but no one should regret voting for the Nationalist Party.
According to official information, voter turnout was 87.4 percent. It was slightly higher than in the last election in 2022 (85.5 percent). For Maltese standards, such a high voter turnout is nothing unusual.
Possibly party political calculations behind new elections
Abela (48) called new elections at the end of April, almost a year before the end of the legislative period. He cited global geopolitical concerns as the reason for this and said his government needed a new mandate to lead Malta and its citizens through an impending energy crisis.
However, observers saw this as more of a party political calculation. Abela’s political opponent Borg was only elected head of the Nationalist Party in September last year. Abela must have assumed that the 30-year-old Borg – lawyer and winner of the 2020 Mr. World Malta beauty contest – would hardly be able to make a name for himself in such a short time.
During the election campaign, Abela presented Labor as a party of economic stability and credibility. He pointed to years of strong gross domestic product (GDP) growth and record low unemployment under his leadership. Abela has been Malta’s head of government since 2020. He is the son of a former president. The Labor Party has ruled the country since 2013.
Nationalist Party election campaign focused on Borg
The Nationalist Party, on the other hand, presented itself as a force that would improve the country’s infrastructure and reduce Malta’s dependence on foreign workers. The party portrayed Borg as an energetic politician who could reorient the country.
Malta is the most densely populated country in Europe. Despite the continent’s lowest birth rate, the population has grown by around 25 percent in the past decade, largely due to a sharp increase in foreign workers. This increase – in combination with new annual record numbers in tourism – has put a strain on the local infrastructure and also triggered a construction boom on the Mediterranean island south of Sicily./bbo/DP/zb