The Maltese general election of 1987

Abstract

The Maltese general election of 9 May 1987 returned the Nationalist Party to power with a single-seat majority in Malta's unicameral legislature. The result, on a record 96.11 per cent poll, ended sixteen years of Malta Labour Party rule. In the 1981 elections the MLP had gained a majority of seats—34 to the PN's 31—despite polling a minority of votes in the islands' complex STV system. Constitutional changes passed by Parliament in January 1987 ruled out the possibility of such a ‘freak’ result being repeated, by guaranteeing the party polling a majority of votes a majority of seats through a ‘topping-up’ procedure. This change gave the Nationalists victory in 1987. Early stages of the lengthy campaign witnessed fairly serious political violence, and fears had been expressed that in May whoever lost might refuse peacefully to concede defeat. However, whilst polling day and. more particularly, the aftermath of the result were marked by some violent incidents, the transfer of power from Labour to the PN took place smoothly. Maltese democracy, often seen as fragile by outside observers, seemed to have passed this difficult test.