List of political parties in Malta

This article lists political parties in Malta. Since World War II, Maltese political culture has developed into a two-party system dominated by the centre-left Labour Party (Maltese: Partit Laburista) and the centre-right Nationalist Party (Maltese: Partit Nazzjonalista). Although other political parties have presented candidates and, in some cases, elected MPs, in most cases these were splinter groups of the main parties and, on the rare occasions when they were successful, this success was short-lived.

In the case of Local Councils however, independent candidates and village-dedicated parties have better chances of being elected. For example, Għarb l-Ewwel (en: Għarb First) is the only party of this kind to hold representation in a Local Council. There is a total of two elected independent councillors around Malta and Gozo, activist Steve Zammit Lupi in Ħaż-Żebbuġ (Malta)^[1] and Nicky Saliba in Żebbuġ (Gozo). For Żebbuġ, Gozo, former PN Mayor Nicky Saliba ran in 2019 as an independent candidate and was elected, causing a deadlock for the mayorship in the 5-seat Żebbuġ council. He was re-elected mayor^[2] all the same and remains in this post to this day.

Until 2015, there was no law in Malta requiring the registration and regulation of political parties; the General Elections Act made the necessary provisions for party participation in elections but no official list was maintained between elections. The Financing of Political Parties Act, which passed in 2015 and came into effect on 1 January 2016, introduced the requirement for political parties to register themselves with the Electoral Commission and declare all donations in order to be able to field candidates in general elections and European Parliament elections.^[3] The Labour Party was the first party to attempt to register, on 3 June 2016,^[4] however its statute was not compliant,^[5] therefore making Moviment Patrijotti Maltin the first party to be officially registered, on 24 November 2016. The Labour Party was finally registered on 22 April 2017.^[6]

Registered Parties

See also: 2019 Maltese local elections and 2022 Maltese general election

National parties represented in the Maltese Parliament, the European Parliament, Local Councils and hamlet Administrative Committees

Name			Founded	Ideology	Political position	Leader	House of Representatives	MEPs	Local Councillors	Europarty	EP group
in Government
		Labour Party (PL)	1920	Social democracy	Centre-left	Robert Abela	44 / 79	4 / 6	267 / 462	PES	S&D
		Independents[a]		Various or N/A			1 / 79	N/A
in Opposition
		Nationalist Party (PN)	1926	Christian democracy	Centre-right	Bernard Grech	35 / 79	2 / 6	190 / 462	EPP	EPP

Local parties represented in Local Councils

Name			Founded	Ideology	Political position	Leader	Local Councillors
		Għarb First (GĦ1)[8] Għarb l-Ewwel	2019	Għarb localism[9] Parish-Council collaboration	—	David Apap[b]	Għarb Local Council: 2 / 5
		Independents[1][2]	N/A	Various or N/A			3 / 462

Unrepresented national parties

Name			Founded	Ideology	Position	Leader	Europarty
		ABBA[10]	2021	Christian right	Far-right	Ivan Grech Mintoff	ECPM
		AD+PD	2020	Green politics	Centre-left	Sandra Gauci	EGP
		Imperium Europa (IE)	2000	Neo-fascism	Far-right	Norman Lowell	—
		People's Party (PP) Partit Popolari	2020	Right-wing populism	Right-wing	Paul Salomone	—
		Volt Malta (VM)	2021	Social liberalism	Centre-Left	Alexia DeBono Arnas Lasys	Volt Europa

Unrepresented local parties

Name			Founded	Village/Town	Leader
		Floriana First (FL)[10] Floriana l-Ewwel	2019	Floriana	Nigel Holland
		Residents of Valletta (RB) Residents of Valletta	2021	Valletta	Billy McBee

Inactive, registered political parties

Name		Ideology	Position	Leader	Europarty
	Maltese Patriots Movement Moviment Patrijotti Maltin (MPM)	Euroscepticism	Far-right	Henry Battistino	—
	Communist Party of Malta Partit Komunista ta' Malta (PKM)	Marxism–Leninism	Far-left	Victor Degiovanni	Initiative
	Alleanza Bidla Alliance for Change (AB)[c]	Social conservatism	Right-wing	Ivan Grech Mintoff	ECPM

Defunct parties

• Alleanza Nazzjonali Repubblikana
• Alliance of Liberal Democrats Malta
• Alpha Liberal Democratic Party
• Anti-Reform Party
• Christian Workers' Party (active during 1960's Church/PL conflict)
• Constitutional Party
• Democratic Alternative
• Democratic Action Party
• Democratic Nationalist Party (1921–26)
• Democratic Nationalist Party (1959–66)
• Democratic Party (1987)
• Democratic Party (2016-20)
• Eagle Party (Partit tal-Ajkla)^[11]
• Gozo Party
• Jones Party
• Independent Labour Party
• Integrity Party
• Libertas Malta
• Malta Workers Party
• Maltese Political Union
• National Action
• Progressive Constitutionalist Party
• Brain, not ego^[12]

Diagram

See also

• Politics of Malta
• List of political parties by country

References

1. Rosianne Cutajar^[7]
2. Also Mayor of Għarb.
3. Alleanza Bidla has been de-facto succeeded by another party, ABBA, also led by Grech Mintoff.

1. Galea, Albert (30 May 2019). "Watch: Steve Zammit Lupi elected to Żebbuġ council as independent candidate". Malta Independent. Retrieved 25 May 2023.
2. Bonnici, Julian (2019-05-31). "Former PN Mayor Elected As Independent In Deadlocked Żebbuġ - PL Keeps Hold of Gżira". Lovin Malta. Retrieved 2023-05-25.
3. "Party Financing Law will come into effect in January 2016". TVM News. 15 July 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
4. "Party financing: PL registers itself with Electoral Commission". Times of Malta. Allied Newspapers. 3 June 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
5. "Labour's statute not in line with new party financing law". Times of Malta. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
6. "Labour finally registered as political party". Times of Malta. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
7. "Rosianne Cutajar resigns from Labour's parliamentary group". Times of Malta. Allied Newspapers Ltd. 3 April 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
8. "'Għarb First' – Former Councillor Comes Back To Haunt PN; Sliema Is Set To Retain Its PN Majority". Lovin Malta. 2019-05-30. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
9. GĦARB L-EWWEL – STATUT https://electoral.gov.mt/Media/Default/Documents/PartyStatutes/G%C4%A7arb_L-Ewwel.pdf
10. Sansone, Kurt. "From Floriana l-Ewwel to ABBA, Malta has 12 registered political parties". MaltaToday. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
11. "Election Summary 2013". Electoral Commission Malta. Electoral Commission of Malta. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
12. "New independent political party for EP elections: 'Brain, not ego'". www.independent.com.mt. Retrieved 2021-11-19.