2008 Maltese general election

Maltese general election

8 March 2008
All seats of the Maltese House of Representatives with additional seats to ensure proportional representation.
First party Second party Third party   File:No-photo.jpg File:No-photo.jpg Leader Lawrence Gonzi . Alfred Sant Harry Vassallo . Party Nationalist Party (Malta) Labour Party (Malta) Democratic Alternative (Malta) Leader since 23 March 2004 1992 1998 Last election 35 seats, 51.8% 30 seats, 48% 0 seat, 0.7%
Prime Minister before election Lawrence Gonzi Nationalist Party Elected Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi Nationalist Party

The latest Maltese general election for the renewal of the House of Representatives of Malta was held on March 8, 2008. The incumbent ruling party the Christian democratic Nationalist Party, led by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, narrowly won over the social democratic Malta Labour Party led by Alfred Sant. The election was held on the same day as the Maltese local council elections in 23 of the 68 Maltese local councils. The election was called on 4 February 2008.

Voting began in all 13 districts at 07:00 on 8 March and ended at 23:00, with the voting time extended for an hour due to queues in some areas. The first ballot boxes arrived at the counting centre in Naxxar at 23:52. The counting of ballot papers to ensure that there were no discrepancies ended at about noon, with the actual counting of votes continuing throughout the day.

Initial exit polls and statistics suggested very close results, and indeed the results narrowed as the count progressed. Preliminary results built on statistical projections from the major parties had been expected by around midday, but the extremely slim margin forced electoral officials to complete a full first count, rather than relying upon samples which were far too close to call. PN Secretary General Joe Saliba and MLP Deputy Leader Michael Falzon were directly involved in the statistical computations in the counting hall.

Just before 21:30, the General Secretary of the Nationalist Party, Joe Saliba, declared victory by a margin of 1,200 votes to the ecstatic jubilation of PN counting agents and supporters. MLP deputy leader Michael Falzon later conceded the defeat on March 10 at around 03:00.

Just under 2% of registered voters, 5,266 individuals, did not collect their voting documents, so fewer than 310,000 people were eligible to vote on 8 March 2008. In total, voter turnout was 93%, the lowest in Malta since 1971. Official results issued on the basis of first count votes, showed the Nationalist Party leading the Malta Labour Party, with actual votes being distributed 49.33% to 48.9%, thus giving a lead to the PN of 1,580 votes.

While the PN won the popular vote, they did not win a majority of MPs; the MLP got 34 seats and the PN only 31 seats. Following the election law, the popular vote winning party is thus assigned additional MPs (in this case, four seats) to ensure the party has a majority.

Four major political groups participated in this election: Democratic Alternative (Alternattiva Demokratika, AD), National Action (Azzjoni Nazzjonali, (AN), Labour Party (Partit Laburista, PL), and Nationalist Party (Partit Nazzjonalista, PN).

As many politicians contested the election in more than one constituency, so-called "casual elections" were held in April 2008 to fill the seats not taken by these candidates; twelve MPs were elected this way, six each for the MLP and the PN.

Results

District 1

• Registered Voters - 23361
• Quota - 3583

• Votes Cast - 21720
• Invalid Votes - 228
• Valid Votes - 21492

People Elected

• Alfred Sant - Partit Laburista
• Mario de Marco - Partit Nazzjonalista
• Jose' Herrera - Partit Laburista
• Agostino Pio Gatt - Partit Nazzjonalista
• Luciano Busuttil - Partit Laburista

District 2

People Elected

• Lawrence Gonzi
• Michael Falzon
• Joseph Mizzi
• Stefan Carlo Buontempo
• Helena Dalli

District 3

People Elected

• George Vella
• Carmelo Abela
• Mario Galea
• Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici
• Helena Dalli

District 4

People Elected

• Saviour Parnis
• Karl Joseph Chircop
• Jason Azzopardi
• Carmelo Mangion
• Jesmond Mugliett

District 5

People Elected

• Karmenu Vella
• Marlene Pullicino
• Anthony Zammit
• Franco Debono
• George Vella

District 6

People Elected

• Marie Louise Coleiro Preca
• Carmelo Mangion
• John Dalli
• Roderick Galdes
• Clyde Michael Puli

District 7

People Elected

• Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando
• Joseph Cassar
• Anthony Zammit
• Carmelo Buhagiar
• Emanuel Farrugia

District 13

Following election from two districts

On 17 April 2008, casual elections were held in ten districts to fill twelve seats in the case of candidates who were returned from two districts. The results were as follows:

• 1st district - Stephen Spiteri (Nationalist) and Christopher Agius (Labour) for the seats vacated by Lawrence Gonzi (Nationalist) and Michael Falzon (Labour)
• 3rd district - Owen Bonnici (Labour) for the seat vacated by Helena Dalli (Labour)
• 5th district - Joseph Mario Sammut (Labour) for the seat vacated by George Vella (Labour)
• 6th district - Gavin Gulia (Labour) for the seat vacated by Charles Mangion (Labour)
• 7th district - Philip Mifsud (Nationalist) for the seat vacated by Jeffrey Pullicino (Nationalist)
• 8th district - Joseph Debono Grech (Labour) for the seat vacated by Alfred Sant (Labour)
• 9th district - Joseph Falzon (Nationalist) for the seat vacated by Robert Arrigo (Nationalist)
• 10th district - Michael Frendo (Nationalist) and Joseph Cuschieri for the seats vacated by Dolores Cristina (Nationalist) and Evarist Bartolo (Labour)
• 11th district - Charlò Bonnici (Nationalist) for the seat vacated by Tonio Borg (Nationalist)
• 12th district - Censu Galea (Nationalist) for the seat vacated by Tonio Fenech (Nationalist)

See also

• Maltese local council elections, 2008
• Malta Districts