Myriam Spiteri Debono | |
---|---|
11th President of Malta | |
Assumed office 4 April 2024 | |
Prime Minister | Robert Abela |
Preceded by | George Vella |
Speaker of the House of Representatives | |
In office September 1996 –October 1998 | |
Preceded by | Lawrence Gonzi |
Succeeded by | Anton Tabone |
Personal details | |
Born | Miriam Zammit 25 October 1952 Victoria,Gozo,Crown Colony of Malta |
Political party | Labour |
Spouse | Anthony Spiteri Debono |
Children | 3 |
Alma mater | University of Malta |
Occupation | Notary public |
Website | president.gov.mt |
Myriam Spiteri Debono [lower-alpha 1] (born 25 October 1952) [1] is a Maltese politician who is the 11th and current President of Malta. She is the first Gozitan woman to be elected to the position. She was also the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Malta [2] [3] from 1996 to 1998,the first woman to hold that position. [4]
Spiteri Debono was born Miriam Zammit in Victoria,Gozo,to Pawlu Zammit and his wife. [5] She received her formal childhood education in Gozo and later attended the University of Malta where she studied English Literature and Linguistics,graduating in 1973,and founded the Socialist Students Union. [6] [7] She also studied law and graduated as a Notary Public in 1980. [8] [6]
Her first public office appointments included that of chair of the Cooperatives Board,and as a founding member of the Gender Equality Commission. [8]
She was a candidate for the Malta Labour Party in five general elections (1981,1987,1992,1996,2003),but was never elected as a member of parliament. [9] [10] However,she was elected to the party's national executive in 1982 and served as the party's propaganda secretary. [6] [11]
Spiteri Debono served as president of the Malta Labour Party's women section between 1993 and 1996. [12] [13]
In September 1996,she was appointed Malta's Speaker of the House of Representatives by Prime Minister Alfred Sant. [7] She was the first woman to serve in this role in Malta and was replaced by Anton Tabone in October 1998. [4] [7]
In January 2023,she was proposed for the role of Standards Commissioner by the Nationalist Party,however,she declined to be formally considered for the role claiming that she was not suited for it nor was she interested in taking the position. [14]
On 21 March 2024,she was reported to be the front runner to be appointed President of the Republic of Malta. [15] [16] The following week,this was confirmed in a joint statement issued from the offices of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. [17] Malta's House of Representatives voted unanimously to elect Spiteri Debono as Malta’s 11th President on 27 March 2024,becoming the first president to be elected using the new constitutional reforms of 2020 including the new requirement of two-thirds of the parliament’s approval for the presidential nominee. [8]
Spiteri Debono is the third woman to serve as President of Malta,after Agatha Barbara and Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca. [18] She is also the third person from Gozo to be appointed to this office,following Anton Buttigieg and Ċensu Tabone. [8]
She was inaugurated on 4 April 2024. [19]
At the time of her appointment she admitted to being a technophobe;owning a flip phone and preferring to dictate her letters and other correspondence to an assistant,leaving emails to an email address in her husband's name. [20]
Spiteri Debono has lived most of her adult life in Birkirkara,Malta. [13] She is married to notary Anthony Spiteri Debono and they have three children,Elena,George and Maria Kristina. Spiteri Debono and her husband have four grandchildren:Alexandra,Paul,Pippa and Beppe. [21]
Lawrence Gonzi is a Maltese politician, retired Nationalist politician and lawyer, who served for twenty-five years in various critical roles in Maltese politics. Gonzi was Prime Minister of Malta from 2004 to 2013, and leader of the Nationalist Party. He also served as speaker of the House from 1988 to 1996, and Minister of Social Policy from 1998 to 2004, as well as deputy prime minister from 1999 to 2004. He served in practically all positions in Parliament, being also Leader of the House, an MP and Leader of the Opposition.
Fifteen general elections have been contested since the granting of universal suffrage in Malta. Only 73 women have contested in these elections. The number of men, on the other hand, has exceeded 1000. The number of women contesting general elections has, however, increased over the years. In fact, the 1998 elections saw 24 women candidates participating, the highest number to date, with six of these getting elected, registering a 25 percent success rate.
Victoria Hotspurs Football Club is a Maltese football club from the town of Victoria, Gozo, and that as from the 2024–25 season has become the first ever Gozitan club to switch from the Gozo football league system to the Maltese one.
General elections were held in Malta on 26 October 1996. Although the Malta Labour Party received the most votes, the Nationalist Party won the most seats. However, the Labour Party was awarded an additional four seats to ensure they had a majority in Parliament.
Giovanna Debono was the Minister for Gozo in a number of Nationalist governments.
Francesco Masini was a lawyer and politician from the island of Gozo, Malta. In 1947, he founded the Gozo Party, and was elected to the Maltese Legislative Assembly together with two other party members.
Franco Debono is a Maltese criminal trial lawyer and former Nationalist member of Parliament.
Edward Zammit Lewis is a Maltese politician within the Labour Party, and a member of Parliament and Minister since 2013.
The Nationalist Party Shadow Cabinet of Dr Simon Busuttil was announced on May 14, 2013. It was formed following the 9 March election which replaced the PN majority with a Labour majority.
The Parliament House is the meeting place of the Parliament of Malta located in Valletta, Malta. The building was constructed between 2011 and 2015 to designs by Renzo Piano as part of the City Gate Project, which also included building a new City Gate and converting the ruins of the Royal Opera House into an open-air theatre. Construction of the Parliament House generated considerable controversy, mainly due to the modern design of the building and the cost of construction, which amounted to around €90 million.
The Malta–Gozo Tunnel was a planned undersea tunnel between the islands of Malta and Gozo, both part of the Republic of Malta. The tunnel would have replaced the Gozo Channel Line, the current inter-island ferry service, between Ċirkewwa in Malta and Mġarr in Gozo.
Josianne Cutajar is a Maltese (Gozitan) politician who was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2019.
Anton Tabone is a Maltese politician. Appointed the first Minister for Gozo Affairs in 1987 he was re-appointed in the same portfolio in 1992, a post he held up to 1996. Between 1998 and 2008 he served as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Helen D'Amato is a Maltese politician and educator who was a member of the Parliament of Malta from 1996 to 2008 and Commissioner for Children of Malta from 2010 to 2016. She is a member of the Nationalist Party.
Alex Borg is a lawyer and Maltese Member of Parliament. In April 2022, he was appointed shadow minister for Gozo.
Events in the year 2024 in Malta.
The 2024 Maltese presidential election took place on 27 March 2024. Members of the Parliament of Malta voted in an indirect election to elect the next President of Malta with former parliament speaker Myriam Spiteri Debono being the only nominee.
Karl Gouder was a Maltese politician, elected as a member for the Nationalist Party. He was the first elected gay MP in Malta.
{{cite web}}
: |last=
has generic name (help)